What is the iRankMovies score for Tokyo Story?

Name: Tokyo Story
Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Genre: drama
Released: 1953
Duration: 2 h 17 min
Rating: 8.1

Tokyo Story has an iRankMovies score of 90/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

Tokyo Story (1953)

東京物語

As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief.

Release:1953

Runtime:2h 17m

Country:Japan

Director:Yasujirō Ozu

Language:Japanese

Genre

Drama

See the best drama movies →

Keywords

FishBeachDreamsBabyComaParent Child RelationshipPeaceBoat

iRank90

Tokyo Story rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.1/10· 77K votes

Rotten Tomatoes100%

Metacritic100%

TMDb8.166/10· 1K votes

With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.1/10 on IMDb and 100/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Tokyo Story

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

Cast of Tokyo Story

Chishū Ryū
as Shukichi Hirayama
Chieko Higashiyama
as Tomi Hirayama
Setsuko Hara
as Noriko Hirayama
Haruko Sugimura
as Shige Kaneko
So Yamamura
as Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake
as Fumiko Hirayama
Kyōko Kagawa
as Kyoko Hirayama
Eijirō Tōno
as Numata
Nobuo Nakamura
as Kurazo Kaneko
Shirō Ōsaka
as Keizo Hirayama
Hisao Toake
as Osamu Hattori
Teruko Nagaoka
as Yone Hattori

Tokyo Story facts

Original title: 東京物語
Collection: Noriko Trilogy

Our take on Tokyo Story

Ozu's 1953 masterpiece watches an elderly couple visit their grown children in postwar Tokyo, only to find them too busy to care. With its low camera and unhurried stillness, it turns ordinary family disappointment into one of cinema's most profound meditations on time, duty and quiet regret. If its understated emotional depth moved you, seek out contemplative family dramas that find the universal in small domestic moments.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources

Audience opinions

What the audience liked

•Poignant meditation on generational bonds explores family dynamics with profound restraint
•Minimalist aesthetic achieves emotional impact through subtle acting and composed framing
•Contemplative pacing allows viewers to absorb quiet observations of everyday life

What the audience disliked

•Glacially slow pacing and minimal plot strain contemporary viewer engagement expectations
•Emotional restraint creates emotional distance despite poignant thematic concerns throughout

Saga: Noriko Trilogy