Tokyo Olympiad (1965)

Tokyo Olympiad (Tokyo Orinpikku)
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Written by Kon Ichikawa, Yoshio Shirasaka, Shuntaro Tanikawa, and Natto Wada
1965/Japan
Organizing Committee for the Games of the XVIII Olympiad/Toho Company
Repeat viewing/FilmStruck
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] I’ve made various types of films: period dramas, modern dramas, films set in the Meiji period. But I don’t make any distinctions between them – they’re all films. True, with a period drama, there are certain conventions. With a modern drama, there is a different style of shooting. So you have to make changes according to the genre, but I never think, “This is a period drama, so I have to shoot it in such and such a way.” Films are films. If you don’t understand that, then you start filming lies. – Kon Ichikawa[/box]

Beautiful, thrilling document of Tokyo’s last Olympic moment by one of Japan’s great directors.

Ichikawa takes a great variety of approaches to covering the 1964 Olympics.  Some segments are straightforward depictions of events.  Others focus on individual athletes. Slow-motion sequences highlight the beauty of trained bodies in motion.

But it’s not just athletes.  The fans in the stadium and environs get a loving look see.  I read that the Olympic Organizing Committee had hoped for a “commercial film” glorifying Japanese athletes and winners.  Instead it got this humanistic version which is so much more.

Kon Ichikawa obviously loved people and the outcome was a loving portrait of a time and nation with all their warts.  At three hours, he maintained interest throughout.  I think Ichikawa is underrated. The Kurosawa-Ozu-Mizoguchi triumvirate should be a quartet.  His output including The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, An Actor’s Revenge, and this film certainly merit greater recognition for the director.  Highly recommended.

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