The dramatization of family dissolution in Tokyo story - Essay Example

The dramatization of family dissolution in Tokyo story Date, Time Institution: The dramatization of family dissolution in Tokyo story The Tokyo story is one of the most melodramatic films ever made. According to some authors, the plot is a simple tale of an aging parenthood and an emerging generation gap that affected the Japanese families at the time. The director mounts this generation gap in the concept of modernization that is depicted by the difference between rural and city life (MaGee, 2011).

With this simple plot, the director engages the audience in a high level of dramatization that deeply engages the minds of the audience into realizing the various issues about the dissolution of the Japanese family. In this piece, the argument that is advanced is that the director uses a high level of dramatization to depict the dissolution of the modern Japanese family. Much of the action is presented either in dialogues or presented against a backdrop that reduces the level of melancholy that the parents who are the main character face.

Mizoguchi Kenji, one of the critics of the works of Ozu said that the director depicts what should be possible as if it were possible. This is a far more difficult task than the depiction of what should not be possible as if it were a reality (Bock, 1978). It is against this backdrop that the dramatization of Ozu in his work can be understood. The ordinary Japanese films always employ the use of architectural lighting styles, elegance, and crafting of the choreography. However, the work of Ozu in Tokyo story employs a subtle yet deep and intense method of approach to the conventional issue of modern family life.

At the time of the release of the film, the subject of modern family life was a modest topic or subject to develop into a film (Richie, 2015). It meant that the content would be the ordinary issues that people faced about the idea of modernization that was slowly taking up the society. However, Ozu direction takes a keen approach to the details of the subject matter. According to Russel (2011, p. xiv), the demonstration of the keen and meticulous capture of both the modern and historical development sin the subject is what makes the film exceptional.

The visitation of the parents takes a descending order from the Oldest to the youngest. The audience is informed of the initial visit of Keizo on the parents way to Tokyo, which is in respect of the family tree. This order is also to depict the possible treatment that the parents would have and a comparison of the treatment of the parents. The patterning of the visits would not escape the audience attention at it looks over neat. However, at Shinges hose while the three elderly parents are busy fretting over the failures of their sons, the theme from John Fords Stagecoach can be heard playing in the background (Cladwell, 2008).

Much of the plaintiveness in the story is blocked from being over neat in the film by the energy of the minor characters. For instance, at these scenes are dotted with the energy and reaction of the grandsons playing in the foreground. Through these minor characters, the depiction of the dissolution of the modern family is made not to have the melancholic mood but well dramatized by the director. Apart from the proper use of the cast and dramatization of the act, Ozu uses minimal editing techniques to give his films the dramatic appeal that surrounds the dissolution of the modern family.

The technique applies the minimal use of camera movements and the high focus on the individual character that is speaking at the scene (Linduff, 2000). For instance, Cladwell notes that while the director was shooting the scene outside Norikos house, the slow movement of the camera along the fence is nonobtrusive. It gives the audience the chance to develop a high level of meditation on the scenes. Apart from the slow nonobtrusive camera movement, the director uses little transition from scene to another.

The use of insert shots and the elimination of the wipes fade and dissolve to the direct cuts further increases the dramatization of the major theme (Case, 2013). Through direct cuts, different angles of the same scene can be given which deemphasizes the presence of the film crew even in a modestly themed film like Tokyo Story (Crittenden, 2012). The cuts are also a major method to develop the dialogues that take place in the film. The audience is made to learn of some of the major developments in the dissolution of the modern family through the continuous use of dialogue in the film.

For instance, the visit of Hirayamas to Keizo is not shown but a dialogue about the same is where the audience learns the same. To perfectly give this dialogue and the dramatization of the details, the director uses the cut technique in the editing to the film. Bibliography BOCK, A. (1978). Japanese film directors. Kodansha International. BORDWELL, D. (2015). Tokyo story: compassionate detatchment. Retrieved 8 November, 2015, from https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/301-tokyo-story-compassionate-detachment CASE, D. (2013). Film technology in post production.

Taylor & Francis. CLADWELL, T. (2008). Notes on Film: Tokyo story. Retrived 8 November, 2015 from: http://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2008/10/11/notes-on-film-tokyo-story/ CRITTENDEN, R. (2012). Fine cuts: the art of European film editing. CRC Press. LINDUFF, K.M., (2000) "Japanese Film: Ozu and the Tokyo Story," in Art Past/Art Present, retrived on 8 November 2015 from: http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/jfilm/ozunotes2.html MAGEE, C. (2011). World film locations. Bristol: Intellect Books. RICHIE, D. (2015). On Ozu’s Tokyo story.

Retrieved on 8 November 2015 from http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/jfilm/ozunotes2.html RUSSELL, C. (2011). Classical Japanese cinema revisited. Bloomsbury Publishing. USA. SCHWARTZ, D. (2003). Ozus, World Movie Reviews. Retrieved 8 November, 2015 from http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/jfilm/ozutokyostory.html