Tokyo-Ga

Wenders had barely dabbled in documentary to this point in his career, the most notable effort being Lightning Over Water (1980), a collaboration with and homage to Nicholas Ray, director of, amongst others, Rebel Without A Cause (1955). His first solo, feature-length work in the genre, Tokyo-Ga took another filmmaker for its subject: Yasujirō Ozu. His search for remnants of the Japan depicted in films such as Tokyo Story (1953) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962) makes for an outsider’s fascinating travelogue through the city and oeuvre of Ozu, and reflects a curiosity still apparent in Wender’s work (Perfect Days, 2023).