Tokyo-Ga is at once a travel diary and an ode by one filmmaker to another. In it, Wim Wenders travels to Tokyo to see first-hand the home and film subject of one of his most beloved and revered film directors, the late Yasujirō Ozu.
Wenders indulges his curiosity by visiting Pachinko parlours, a pinball-like game that swept the post-war Japanese nation. Wenders notes that the hypnotic nature of the game is perhaps something that captured the consciousness of the nation after the horrors it experienced.
He also documents a factory that produces the fake food that adorns restaurant windows in Tokyo streets – wax imitations of the real food served inside. He explains how he wasn’t allowed to film during the workers’ lunch break, but conjures the amusing image of one of them accidentally taking a bite of their ersatz creations.
Of course, Wenders takes some time to visit some of Ozu’s collaborators, including a long-time actor, and on a separate occasion, a faithful camera assistant. Their reverence for Ozu is clear in their reflections of him, although a slightly impersonal picture is painted; he is said to have rarely proffered praise.
Wenders also documents rendes-vous with art-house illuminaries Werner Herzog and Chris Marker, the latter said to be known for his elusiveness. Seeing glimpses of the downtime of the late twentieth century film world is always a pleasure.
1985, Wim Wenders
7.5
Reverse Lens 