Tokyo-Ga (Wim Wenders, 1985)
One of the most touching film’s I have ever seen, Tokyo-ga finds Wim Wenders travelling to Tokyo to find, or reclaim, the images he loves from Ozu’s cinema. What he finds instead is a cold, hyper-mediated Tokyo, intensely removed from Ozu’s poetic worldview. The film not only becomes a portrait of mid-80’s Tokyo, but a heart-wrenching homage and grieving of Yasujiro Ozu’s passing; his absence resonating deeply in the city as perceived by Wenders, but also in the people he interviews. Chishu Ryo, Werner Herzog and Chris Marker appear, but most touching is the conversation with Ozu’s loyal assistant and cinematographer Atsuta Yuharu, which closes the film and had me weeping through my hands and wanting to give up on everything and dedicate my life to Japan’s most touching filmmaker. Unfortunately, Setsuko Hara is never mentioned (and obviously not interviewed), but otherwise Tokyo-ga is an absolutely must.
