Moved by the work of director Yasujirô Ozu, Wim Wenders travels to Japan in search of the Tokyo seen in Ozu's films.

Wim Wenders travels to Japan in search of the Tokyo seen in the films of Yasujirô Ozu. Ozu's own Tôkyô monogatari (1953) is a helpful (but not mandatory) pre-requisite to seeing Tokyo-Ga (1985).—Anonymous

In 1983, Wim Wenders takes his camera to Tokyo curious to find images of Yasujirô Ozu's films 20 years after his death. Wenders sees a barren land: sleek trains, neon in abundance, pachinko parlor noise and stupefied players. Winders visits a driving range and a shop that makes wax likenesses of food for restaurant displays. At the cemetery where the ideogram for "nothingness" marks Ozu's grave, cherry blossoms are next to picnickers swilling beer. He interviews Chishû Ryû, the father figure in Ozu's films, and Yûharu Atsuta, his cameraman: a portrait emerges of an exacting filmmaker who shot in a studio with every frame, sound, and gesture planned. Ozu's Tokyo is an act of the imagination.—<[email protected]>