AUSTIN TANNENBAUM

ARTANNENBAUM@GMAIL.COM
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Austin is an MA candidate in Creative Publishing and Critical Jounralism at the New School for Social Research. After receiving his BA in communications at The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands, he’s gained nearly a decade of professional journalism experience. His musical project is called Learning.


FILM.



TOKYO STORY

1953 | DIRECTED BY YASUJIRO OZU 



Reflecting on how people call Tokyo Story, and Ozu's shomin-geki generally, sad, and how at least to me that misses the point.

There's obviously pathos. But the intent isn't to leave you depressed. You're not supposed to — as far as one is supposed to do anything after watching a movie — spurn life.

"Isn't life disappointing?" “Yes, it is.” But accepting this frees you. Times change. Traditions fade. Loved ones grow distant. You age. You die. This is life. It can't be helped.

And Ozu's protagonists aren't bitter about it. They shed a tear, or board a train, or give it one more try, or bow their head and through a knowing smile say they'll get used to the loneliness. 

His movies aren't so much elegies but parables preparing us for life and for death. Ozu's grave is marked with nothing but "nothingness," the character mu (無), acknowledging impermanence.

I recently learned that the literal translation of sayonara is "if it must be so." And even more recently that onara means fart — something Ozu features prominently in a different movie.

His pairing of quiet equanimity with humor in the face of life's heartache is why his movies will always be relevant. They're instruction manuals on navigating the human condition.


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