Tokyo Story

I recommend the film "Tokyo Story", director Yasujiro Ozu. I bought it on ebay new and unopened for $12.99 including shipping from Hong Kong and it was the best value film I have ever bought. Rose and I watched it yesterday afternoon and we were both wiping the tears from our eyes from half-way through right up to the end. Here's the blurb from the back of the DVD box:

Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY follows an ageing couple, Tomi and Shukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling postwar Tokyo. Their reception, however, is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to the hot springs. After Tomi falls ill, she and Shukichi return home; the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her. From a simple tale unfolds one of the greatest of all Japanese films. Starring Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, the film reprises one of the director's favorite themes - that of generational conflict - in a way that is quintessentially Japanese, and yet universal in its appeal.

Don't be deceived by the slow start, the black-and-white photography, the fluctuation of brightness. All that is completely irrelevant. I even feel that colour and precision would distract from the story. The dialogue is in Japanese, with subtitles in other languages including English.
For film buffs, it's interesting that the director employs the device of actors looking straight into the camera when they speak. I don't remember noticing this in other films.