Legendary Japanese filmmaker remakes (or perhaps retells?) one of the most famous Japanese movies of all time, Tokyo Story, approximately 60 years after its release, with a very similar plot but a very different modern day setting. It does, in a way, highlight how timeless the themes are surrounding getting old and what happens when a family starts to reject or ignore its eldest members that were already well explored by the original classic.

It's arguably not a necessary remake because of how well the first still holds up, but Yamada shoots it well, as always, and gets naturalistic, compelling performances out of his fairly large cast. Hitting the same beats as the first and having similar strengths and a very comparable slow pace does make watching this feel more than a little familiar at times, even if it's been years and years since you've seen the original (like my personal experience).

Yamada clearly has a lot of love for the original, and it shaped his style and many of his films that he's been making for nearly 60 years now, so maybe it doesn't matter how relevant the audience thinks it is? If he did it for himself, and because he wanted to tribute that original, then he's earned the right to do that, in all honesty.

Thankfully, those choosing to watch will still experience quite a nice film (although it is better to watch the original first, and then maybe check this one out too, if you liked it).

A remake of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953),which is widely regarded as one of the finest films ever made. Director Yoji Yamada follows the plot of the earlier film closely (though he doesn't borrow Ozu's stylistic touches; thus, this is necessarily a more conventional movie).

There are also changes in some of the characters. The youngest children, Kyoko and Keizo, do not exist in this version. Noriko here is not the widowed wife of their fallen son in the war, but the girlfriend of their son Shoji (who is alive here, and works as a theater decorator). Noriko is played by Yu Aoi, who is pretty and charming, though she lacks the screen charisma Setsuko Hara has in the original version (she is given less screen time, also). Also, I notice that in this version the elder children and the grandchildren are less rude to the elder couple. For instance, the eldest daughter Shige, as played as Tomoko Nakajima, is not as mean and bitchy as Haruko Sugimura was in the original. And the grandfather Shukichi, is less nice here than in the original version. He openly questions his children, especially Shoji, which in the original only did obliquely.

Obviously, this film is not up to the level of the original, but it is a well made, pleasant movie to watch.

Updating a classic as revered as Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story" is no small feat, and it is left to former Ozu protégé Yôji Yamaha along with co-screenwriter Emiko Hiramatsu to contemporize a film that managed the magical feat of being timeless and of its time (post-WWII Japan). Yamaha was 82 when he directed this overlong 2013 drama, and there is a sense of gravitas to his approach which could be seen as a respectful tribute to his mentor. However, what's missing is the deep sense of melancholy of the original, the delicate emotionalism which was well matched by empathetic performances from Ozu's regular players, chief among them the legendary Setsuko Hara's beautifully modulated turn as Noriko. This character has been relegated to a smaller role here, and this is just the beginning of the problems with the new film made exactly sixty years after the original.

The plot follows the same basic framework. Retired teacher Shukichi Hirayama his wife, Tomiko live on a small island near Hiroshima. They come visit their grown children in Tokyo for a few days. There were five children in the original film, the youngest a schoolteacher who lived with them. This time there are three, probably a more accurate demographic for current-day Japan, but like the first story, the elderly couple is shuttled around rather mercilessly by their children who are leading their own hectic lives. They first visit with elder son Koiichi, a local doctor, his wife and two kids. Then there is the snippy daughter Shigeko who has a buffoonish husband and runs a hair salon. Last is youngest son Shoji, a freelance set designer who barely scrapes by but doesn't seem to mind. Noriko is no longer a widow central to the story on her own but rather Shoji's hidden girlfriend, the one who eventually provides the bridge to his largely estranged parents.

As anyone familiar with "Tokyo Story" will know, tragedy strikes, and the surviving family comes to terms with what remains of their elusive bonds with one another. Zeroing in on three children would lead one to believe deeper characterizations would follow, but Yamaha and Hiramatsu seem so intent in evoking the original story, the opportunities are lost. Even passing mentions of the Fukushima earthquake and the country's pallid economic state do little to make the story feel more vibrant and relevant. The cast is proficient but variable when it comes to lasting impact. As Shukichi, Isao Hashizume plays the role in a more standard curmudgeonly fashion than Ozu regular Chishū Ryū, but Kazuko Yoshiyuki hits the right notes as Tomoko. Masahiko Nishimura plays Koichi even more stoically than Sô Yamamura did as the role remains elliptical at best.

In the comparatively showy role of Shigeko, Tomoko Nakajima stands clearly in the shadow of the memorable Haruko Sugimura who could show respect, pettiness and conniving in a realistically mercurial fashion. However, former teen heartthrob Satoshi Tsumabuki manages to convey a palpable figure out of the puppyish Shoji who loves his mother but remains shaped by his father's disappointment. Yu Aoi has the unenviable task of stepping into Hara's shoes, though her sympathetic likability gets her through her key final scene with Shukichi with surprising poignancy. It would have been unimaginable to conceive of an update that could approach the resonance of the original, and somehow Yamaha proves that point with his overly deliberate pacing. Still, certain scenes like the heartfelt bedside chat between Tomoko and Shoji, well played by Yoshiyuki and Tsumabuki, make this worthwhile for a once-through.