(82) Tokyo Monogatari

I tried to blog last night, but my computer froze.... Every time I think my computer is better, it does something odd.

Anyway, I was up until 3:30AM watching an old 1950's movie called "Tokyo Story" on TCM. It was in Japanese with subtitles, and was pretty good. I'm not sure what the theme of the story was, but it seemed to be a reflection of the role of family in Japanese culture. I was talking to Shuichiro once, and he told me that families aren't really close in Japan.

The story was about an old couple visiting all their grown children in Tokyo, as well as making sure to visit their daughter-in-law Noriko, whose husband (one of their sons) died in the war. The problem was, all their kids were too busy to entertain them or take them sight seeing. After a few days, they actually sent the parents away to a lively, modern, fun hotel and spa so they at least had something to do. But it was definitely a place for the younger generation. So the parents go back to one of their kids' homes, and they're actually asked to leave and go elsewhere.
Who does that? Especially to their elderly parents?

Anyway, the mom ends up dying at the end. There's a scene at a dinner table after the funeral where Kyoko, who I believe was their youngest daughter who still lived with the parents, was being told from her older sister to fetch all kinds of clothes of the moms so she can have them. Kyoko doesn't say anything of course, but later as she's speaking Noriko, she goes on this big rant about how disrespectful that was, and that it isn't how family is supposed to act. Noriko however, disagrees.

She tells Kyoko that kids gradually grow distant from their parents, and that it wasn't disrespectful at all. Kyoko asked if Noriko would have done what Shige (the oldest daughter) had done, and Noriko said she would have.

There was another scene where the father met up with some of his old co-workers and his retired chief for drinks. All the men got drunk and went on rants about how their sons were all failures. The father's son was a doctor, but not a Tokyo city doctor, just a small suburban doctor, thus he was a disappointment. The other man's son was a co-executive of a big company (or something) and not the big boss, thus was also a failure.

It was a really good movie, but did seem to reflect on how the kids no longer needed their parents anymore, and were closer to each other than their parents. Even the grand kids were too preoccupied with other things to pay anyone else notice.

The most interesting part was the parents' relationship to each other. I know they're old and all, bu there was little to no love left from either of them. When the wife died, the husband seemed to be more in shock rather than grief. When one of the neighbors came by back at his house in the small town they lived, the neighbor pestered him about how lonely he was going to be now that his wife is dead. It was so light-hearted and energetic, that it was as though it was a big joke!
It was so bizarre. Nowadays, or ever, I can't image someone coming over and making fun of you after your spouse dies.

If any of you ever come across it this movie, I'd say check it out, even if it is a lengthy 3 hours.