Tokyo Monogatari (aka Tokyo Story) (1953)

An elderly husband (Chishu Ryu) and wife (Chieko Higashiyama) travel to Tokyo to visit their adult son (So Yamamura), daughter (Haruko Sugimura) and widowed daughter in law (Setsuko Hara). Their trip is dampened by the seeming disinterest of their adult children who are too wrapped up in their own lives to take much interest in entertaining their parents as well as the churlish behavior of the grandchildren. Only the daughter in law expresses genuine pleasure in their arrival. Often cited (justifiably) as one of the greatest films ever made, this is Yasujiro Ozu's crowning achievement. It's a beautifully rendered portrait of traditional family life at the crossroads, when the growth of an urban society caused families to fracture and move apart and grow apart. Ozu doesn't judge the adult children too harshly, it is what it is. After seeing this, I don't think anyone will ever look at their parents in the same way again. Ozu's pacing and camera work may not be very fluid but his intense yet almost lyrical gaze allows the poetry to creep into our consciousness before we're even aware of it. Truly, a landmark piece of cinema! With Kyoko Kagawa and Nobuo Nakamura.