Tokyo-Ga

Together with cameraman Ed Lachman, Wim Wenders goes to Tokyo in search of traces of the late, great Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. Wenders is curious if he can still manage to uncover something from Ozu’s time. During his travels, he talks to Ozu’s lead actor Chishū Ryū and cameraman Yūharu Atsuta, who speak movingly about the secrets behind their long collaboration. Ozu only used a 50mm lens and often asked his cameraman to film the actors statically and at sitting height. At Tokyo Towers, Wenders talks to Werner Herzog, who tells about his failed quest for the transparent and pure image. In addition to Lachman’s beautiful city shots of Tokyo, Wenders also encounters image copying—from Japanese teenagers in the park reenacting rockabilly to the makers of hyper-realistic fake food for restaurant displays. According to Wenders, Ozu was one of the few who was capable of capturing reality through his images.