Tokyo Twilight

The almost inevitable pitfalls and traps in family relationships is a recurring major theme in many of Ozu's films. This is also the case in the melancholic Tokyo Twilight, his final film in black and white and again a family portrait, which demonstrates his great insight into the drive that makes people act and the far-reaching consequences secrets can have.

College student Akiko Sugiyama is in dire straits: she is pregnant by her boyfriend Kenji, but realizes that he does not love her. Her elder sister Takako is not faring much better: she has run away from an unhappy marriage and moved back home. While looking for Kenji in a mah-jong parlour, Akiko meets the owner Kisako, who seems to know a lot about her family. When Takako later hears about this from Akiko, she makes a startling discovery: Kisako is actually their mother, the woman who left her family for another man a long time ago.