Engagement with Yasujirō Ozu’s work often prompts descriptors like “restrained,” “artisanal,” or even “conservative,” and appraisals of his films regularly point to their stubborn minimalism as well as their distinct “Japan-ness.” As arguably the quintessential work of Ozu’s career, 1953’s Tokyo Story has become synonymous with its creator and his eccentricities, namely his lowkey style, slow-moving stories, and domestic setting, and given its pared-down form, the film stands as something of an outlier amidst the likes of Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, Vertigo, or Citizen Kane, the films it trails in the most recent BFI Sight and Sound poll.
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