Tokyo-Ga (1985) was written and directed by Wim Wenders. This full-length documentary is a tribute to Japanese director Yasujirô Ozu. It's included as a special feature in the Criterion Collection edition of Ozu's movie Late Spring.
Wenders is a talented German New Age director, who admired Ozu's work. He went to Tokyo to learn more about the city and about Ozu.
The movie has a real dichotomy. Wenders interviews actor Chishû Ryû and cinematographer Yûharu Atsuta at length. Ryû appeared in almost all of Ozu's films, and Atsuta was his chief camera operator.
Each of them (separately) tells the same story. Ozu knew what he wanted, and he was prepared to go to any lengths to get it. Neither man always understood what Ozu was thinking. They did what he told them to do. Sometimes Ozu was happy, sometimes he wasn't. Both men said that they couldn't understand why something was right or wrong. They kept doing the same scene until Ozu was satisfied. So, in a way, Ozu was a tyrant. However, he was a very polite and friendly tyrant, and he directed great film after great film. Both men are firm in their love and admiration for him.
The other part of the film consists of Wenders wandering through Tokyo and ending up at a pachinko parlor, a golf range, and a factory where they make plastic "food" items to be displayed in restaurant windows.
Wenders' view of Tokyo is that it's a harsh, overcrowded city with no charm. That's what he shows us. Of course, no one can capture a city in part of one documentary. Possibly another director would give us a different view.
I think this documentary is worth seeing if you want to learn more about how Ozu worked and how he accomplished as much as he did. It's also interesting to see a foreigner's view of this city of nine million people. It's certainly not a must-see movie, but I'm glad I saw it.
Tokyo-Ga has a solid 7.4 IMDb rating. I thought it was even better than that, and rated it 9.
