Tokyo Story plus Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (blu ray)

Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story (consistently featuring in critics polls) is a most enduring masterpiece and a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.

From the simple tale of an elderly couple’s visit to their grown-up children in Tokyo, Ozu draws a compelling contrast between the measured dignity of age and the hurried insensitivity of a younger generation.

Also included here is Ozu’s incisive satire Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), which explores similar themes as, following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda and her youngest daughter receive a frosty reception from extended family.

Remastered and released by BFI in this 4K blu ray.

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Cast: Chishu Ryu, Cheiko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara

Genre: Drama

Language: Japanese (with English subtitles)

Country: Japan

Year: 1953

Runtime: 136 mins

Region: B

Special Features

• Remastered in 4K with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• An Introduction to Tokyo Story (2020, 26 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns provides an introduction to Ozu’s most acclaimed film
• Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941, 105 mins): following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda realises she has been left with sizeable debts and an extended family reluctant to support her
• Talking with Ozu (1993, 40 mins): a tribute to the legendary director featuring filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders
• Furnival and Son (1948, 19 mins): recounts the difficult choice a recently demobbed serviceman has to make between an unexpected job offer elsewhere, and resuming his pre-war position as his father’s right-hand man in their small cutlery firm, Furnival and Son
• Image gallery