Asian Humanities: the Film Tokyo Story - Essay Example

Asian Humanities: the film Tokyo Story I regard this film to be one of the most outstanding movies in Japanese account. When I first watched the film, I thought the film was all about happy and admirable thoughts. However, by the end of it, my impression of the film changed. This was further changed by what I read from the essays. At first, I saw a family meet joyfully, but later, children seemed not to care about their parents anymore because of the chores regardless of the fact that they were all running their own businesses; the daughter worked in a salon while the son is a doctor. The daughter-in-law who was employed was the sole person who had time to relate with them, making the older couple to perceive that they had become a burden to the young ones (Bordwell, The impression here is that parents are never satisfied by their children’s efforts. Even though the parents here assert that they are satisfied because their children are well established with jobs, I discover later that the candid couple is not as good as they seem to be, particularly the father, who drinks heavily and becomes a burden and disgrace to his wife and daughter. Surrounding all these inconsistencies that are often tolerated simply for the sake of not breaking family ties and the love shared among them, I later on discovered the hypocrisy and life full of unfulfilled promises. So much of Ozu’s thoughts in the film revolve around family, love, and relationships in the Japanese behavior and customs. However, we find that such matters are not specifically tied down to Japanese culture, but they are universally felt. The passage of stages and the slow transformation of the society in japan seem to have considerably affected the family as a social institution and the role of children in these settings. It can be seen from the film that in Japanese customs, women seem to have some overwhelming power such as the right to vote, while marriage is demarcated as a union of persons more than a union of families (Noda, 34). Family property also is to be distributed among descendants without forgetting that children have the obligation to care for their ageing parents. These customs, as outlined by Ozu are mostly Japanese-centered but they happen all over the world. The only unique aspect as seen in the film is that Japanese firstborn sons as well as their wives were more bestowed with the role of looking after the parents as compared to the other young family members. Another custom is revealed of Japanese families being characterized by the functions and composition that the members carry out. Again, these applies to many global societies. Just like any other work, the film may not be a perfect one, but Ozu did his best to bring each shot in a beautiful manner that is expressively composed. The director has shown his prominent use of, “pillow shots,” and the presence of motifs like clouds, smoke, trains, clothes hanging on a line, banners blowing, empty streets, and tiny architectural details has a huge role to play and a big impact felt. They are likened to the pillow terms in Japanese poetry that are effectively used in the film to separate his scenes with brief, indicative images from real daily life. In short, the pillow term breaks the flow of thoughts and images, thus breaking up the story line. Pillow shot may as well advocate for a plane of reality. In the film, the director must have used the above to spot out something that is not within the constraints and constricted structure of the traditional Japanese lifestyle (Noda, 67). Towards the end of the film, Noriko expresses that life is disappointing, which is deeply reinforced by the film, though in a polite way of outlook. For instance, the final moments of the film, as well as the images therein symbolize the power of love and the importance of human connection, but in a manner that is unforgetfully miserable. The film finally shows the inevitability of the progression of life, expressed in the alterations of a postwar society in Japan and particularly of the family. The disappointment is justified at the end when the family is destroyed and viewers have to go back to where they began. Towards the end, when the grandfather has stepped outside, he states that it is going to another hot day, which expresses a sad attitude, a tone full of fear of loneliness and desperation. The attitude is also a feeling of compassionate detachment that shows little hope for the future (Bordwell, 102). Indeed, my initial impressions and thoughts changed after I read the first essay posted in the japan folder. What I thought was purely Japanese was extensively universal and what seemed so appealing about family unity was not exactly what I felt later. I realized that family connections must be sandwiched with love, care, and concern of each other. 2. A critical review of the film, Rashomon (directed Akira Kurosawa) Upon seeing the film for the first time, I had no idea of Japanese movies, and what surprised me was the preeminent emotional degree of the actors. It was only after I watched the whole of it that I realized that there is nothing so unique about their way of acting when compared to other cultures. In my view, Kurosawa was not so much concerned about realism. From reading the director’s autobiography in the essays posted, I learned that he was struck by the trustworthiness of emotion in silent movies, where conversation could not cause so much impact and actors used their senses and gestures to show emotion (Mitsuhiro 188). The most outstanding part of Rashomon is that lies and reality are contained in all the flashbacks given by the actors. To show reality, the flashbacks present a precise portrait of what every single witness thinks happened. On the other hand, the lies can be traced on the director’s comments when he states, “Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing” (Martinez, 36) From the film, a picture of the human nature can be clearly drawn. Rashomon discloses a simple perspective of enduring humanity. it’s fascinating picture presents a number of versions of one incident; a crook rapes a woman and her husband is killed in the woods, as narrated by a crowd assembled in the ruins of a city gate. Critically speaking, I think the film is questioning the nature of reality, though the director himself said it was a picture of human egoism, where each of the narrators shape his or her style of presenting the facts, to match their self-centered needs (Prince 90). This is a clear indication of the selfish nature of human beings, which are not really specifically seen in Japanese, but in the whole universe. Everywhere in the world, only a few people would genuinely speak the truth to save another person’s situation, rather, they try their best to give statements that favor themselves. Even after I read the essays on the testimonies of the characters, I realized that men are generally selfish. Concerning what goes in the courtroom and the Rashomon gate, both the law and the society should be known and be critical of the potential effect of cultural texts on the society, law, and differentiate between common sense and common wisdom. The juries and judges seem to introduce traditional wisdom into the legal proceedings but at the same time, they must be sensitive to indescribable narrations and screen norms as well as the results of unrecognized wrongs. Viewing the film as it ends, and comparing to the essays in the posted folder, I realized that the director wanted to show that evil can destroy good acts in humans. In the last shots of the film, my initial impression was reversed as disaster and chaos faded away. The rains being swapped by the sun indicates that the sense of disorder and disaster grafted earlier were more linked to the atmosphere. It is clear that Kurosawa wanted the final images of the movie to propose a restoration of moral order. For instance, the priest is left in a condition of renewed hope, precisely shown in the woodcutter’s act of going with the baby (Akutagawa, 39). Rashomon in itself is a frame. The sunlight signifies the moral affirmation triggering the framing story, revealed to viewers by a moving camera shot that goes hand in hand with the moving shots determining the stylistic integrity of the film. Its mood is set up immediately it starts as it is not established by the use of dialogue, rather by the weather. In addition, Kurosawa himself re-told the story as a framing device to heavily dramatize and expand the narration. The moral tale and the nightmare vision created shows a broken down society where no individual can be totally trusted, including the most beloved ones. In conclusion, the narrations as seen in the essay really made me believe that men are not to be trusted under any circumstances, and that good morals can be destroyed by just a few incidents of evil. As each of the diverse versions of the story were put forth, my sympathies changed for every character, but at the end, I seemed to trust none of them because none of them showed reliability traits. Works Cited Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. "Rashomon and Other Stories, trans." Takashi Kojima (Charles Tuttle Co., 19 Bordwell, David, ed. Tokyo story. Cambridge University Press, 1997. Martinez, Dolores. Remaking Kurosawa. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto. Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Duke University Press, 2000. Noda, Kōgo. Ozu’s Tokyo story. Criterion collection, 2003. Prince Stephen. "The Rashomon Effect." The American journal of sports medicine 40.8 2012. Read More