Film Forum

東京夜曲 (Tôkyô yakyoku)

Director Jun Ichikawa
Cast Kyôzô Nagatsuka, Kaori Momoi, Mitsuko Baishô
Screenplay Jun Ichikawa, Shinsuke Sato | Cinematography Tatsuhiko Kobayashi
1997 | Japan | 35mm print imported especially for this series | approx. 85 min. | In Japanese with English subtitles

“Not young enough to hurt each other!” Three middle-aged romances, as observed by a younger aspiring writer, who’s in love with one of the participants. City symphony set in a Shitamachi shopping district.

TOKYO LULLABY © Shochiku Co., Ltd.

Reviews

“Ichikawa… seeks the essence of Tokyo in contemporary faces, gestures and inflections, in cityscapes that everyone knows but few see. He reveals the pathos and beauty that exists, not on an exalted plane, but in everyday lives. At their best, his films are gifts of a fresh, but intimately familiar spiritual vision.”
– Mark Schilling, The Guardian