In this film, which many would call Yasujiro Ozu’s masterpiece, an elderly couple (Chishû Ryû and Chieko Higashiyama) visit their adult children in Tokyo, only to find that time and change have altered the way generations treat each other, and their future together becomes uncertain. In the end, their faithfulness to each other is honored and emulated by an unlikely family member, who serves them in a way that will make audiences nostalgic for the days when fidelity was the norm and not the exception. But the most magnificent fidelity in this film may be Ozu’s own faithfulness to the truth of words, silences, rooms, rituals, and light.
—Jeffrey Overstreet