This film is a 2013 color re-make of Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 "Tokyo Story," that was voted the #1 film by directors in the 2012 Sight and Sound poll. The plot lines and characters are very similar with some distinct differences; even some lines of dialogue are the same or very similar. The biggest difference is that while Noriko in the 1953 film is the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple, whose son was killed in WWII, Noriko in the 2013 film is the future daughter-in-law engaged to the elderly second couple's son (much more developed in this film, not in a flattering way). In addition, the incomparable Setsuko Hara, known as the Japanese Garbo, played Noriko in the 1953 film and brought to the role a transcendent luminosity of compassion and wisdom. Secondly, while Ozu had a distinct cinematographic style of usually having the camera directly in front of the characters while they spoke, we see this much less frequently in the 2013 film. These are just a few of the differences. Overall, it is an interesting re-make, but Ozu's "Tokyo Story" is still one of the greatest films ever made.
Review of Tokyo Family
