The rerelease of Ozu's 1953 classic Tokyo Story is the centrepiece of a major retrospective at London's BFI Southbank, and the already towering reputation of this film and its director continues only to grow.
In 2003, Hou Hsiao-hsien created an Ozu homage in his film Café Lumiere, and last year German author and film-maker Doris Dörrie paid a direct tribute to Tokyo Story with her film Cherry Blossoms. Later this year, there will be a full release of Hirokazu Kore-eda's Still Walking, a movie in the "family drama" genre that Ozu made his own.
Decent and heartfelt though all these are in their various ways, they cannot approach the transcendental simplicity and heartbreaking humanity of Ozu's great work. An elderly couple attempt to visit their grownup children in Tokyo, only to find that they are too busy to find any time for them.
The only person who does is their lonely daughter-in-law – who is the young widow of their third son, killed in the second world war. She is played by Ozu's incomparable leading lady Setsuko Hara, and her sad dignity and emotional generosity are compelling.