A homeless man (Takeshi Sakamoto) and his two sons drift though the desolate industrial regions surrounding Tokyo as the father desperately searches for opportunities to make enough money for a meal and a night's shelter for the small family. The film is a reflection on the spiritually crushing effect of poverty and the few recourses available to people when they become desperate, especially when they are trying to shield their children from suffering. Sakamoto is excellent in an understated role, as are the two young actors who play his sons - boys whose occasionally feckless behaviour contributes to their father's burden. Along the way, they meet a young widow (Yoshiko Okada) and her daughter, who are in similar straits. Watching the children play together, the adults reflect on the joy and innocence of childhood, setting up the 'third act', in which they are forced by circumstances to make onerous decisions. The silent film, one of Yasujiro Oza's last before the war in the pacific broke out, is typical of the director's poignant family portraits, sweet without being sappy, sad without being maudlin, and beautifully photographed (in a stark, harshly intimate way). Comparisons with post-war Italian neo-realism are apt, especially Vittorio De Sica's 'Ladri di biciclette' (1949), to which 'Tôkyô no yadois' is often compared, but Ozu's film is much more intimate, with a small cast and limited locations. A sad, quiet but hopeful fable from one of Japans greatest directors.
