Tokyo Twilight (Tōkyō Boshoku, Japanese; 1957)
Written and Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
Parents usually try to sugar-coat the family environment and cushion their every fall so as not to ensure their childhood era is normal. They try to shield them from bad news and hide unsavoury situations from their views.
The children still find out, and if they do not perform well, they blame it all on their far-from-perfect childhood. Sometimes the single parent tries to fulfil the missing parent's role and mostly fail miserably.
Perhaps for the sake of the children, most parents bite the bullet, try the sort out their differences and make their family stay intact.
Yasujirō Ozu is widely touted as the most Japanese of Japanese film directors of his era. In this flick, he tells the story of a middle-aged bank officer and his two daughters (Takako and Akiko). The mother is not in the picture, whom we later discover had eloped with her lover. She left with the father three children, the son was killed in a hiking accident. The elder daughter, Takako, with her daughter, had left her alcoholic husband. The younger sister, Akiko, grows up a troubled girl, described by the town folks as a wild girl. Akiko is stuck with an unwanted pregnancy and an uncommitted boyfriend and no one to share her predicament.
Along the way, the two girls discover that their estranged mother had somehow landed in the same town. Akiko was only three when her mother left. Hence, she has no recollection of her mother. Both the girls are sore with their mother for abandoning them to grow up alone. The father, on his part, had tried to play his role by being an adequate provider and a disciplinarian.
Akiko goes for a termination of pregnancy. After a row with her mother and her aloof boyfriend, she storms out of a shop to be hit by a moving train either accidentally or in an apparent bid to suicide. She succumbs to her injuries.
After seeing how Akiko turned out as a troubled growing without a parent, Takako takes the bold step to go back to her husband to give their marriage another chance for the sake of her daughter.
Despite the differences the adults may face, perhaps for the sake of the children, some parents sacrifice the worldly pleasures of their youth for the sake of their young. They tell themselves that it is their God-given duty to ensure only the best for their offspring. Just like how the world only favours the young!
Written and Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
Parents usually try to sugar-coat the family environment and cushion their every fall so as not to ensure their childhood era is normal. They try to shield them from bad news and hide unsavoury situations from their views.
The children still find out, and if they do not perform well, they blame it all on their far-from-perfect childhood. Sometimes the single parent tries to fulfil the missing parent's role and mostly fail miserably.
Perhaps for the sake of the children, most parents bite the bullet, try the sort out their differences and make their family stay intact.
Yasujirō Ozu is widely touted as the most Japanese of Japanese film directors of his era. In this flick, he tells the story of a middle-aged bank officer and his two daughters (Takako and Akiko). The mother is not in the picture, whom we later discover had eloped with her lover. She left with the father three children, the son was killed in a hiking accident. The elder daughter, Takako, with her daughter, had left her alcoholic husband. The younger sister, Akiko, grows up a troubled girl, described by the town folks as a wild girl. Akiko is stuck with an unwanted pregnancy and an uncommitted boyfriend and no one to share her predicament.
 |
| The pleasant-faced Setsuko Hara who had appeared in many of Ozu's films. |
Along the way, the two girls discover that their estranged mother had somehow landed in the same town. Akiko was only three when her mother left. Hence, she has no recollection of her mother. Both the girls are sore with their mother for abandoning them to grow up alone. The father, on his part, had tried to play his role by being an adequate provider and a disciplinarian.
Akiko goes for a termination of pregnancy. After a row with her mother and her aloof boyfriend, she storms out of a shop to be hit by a moving train either accidentally or in an apparent bid to suicide. She succumbs to her injuries.
After seeing how Akiko turned out as a troubled growing without a parent, Takako takes the bold step to go back to her husband to give their marriage another chance for the sake of her daughter.
Despite the differences the adults may face, perhaps for the sake of the children, some parents sacrifice the worldly pleasures of their youth for the sake of their young. They tell themselves that it is their God-given duty to ensure only the best for their offspring. Just like how the world only favours the young!
No comments:
Post a Comment