Tokyo Twilight

Tokyo boshoku Tokyo Twilight
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Yasujirō Ozu
Written by	Yasujirō Ozu Kōgo Noda
Starring	Ineko Arima Setsuko Hara Isuzu Yamada Chishū Ryū Kamatari Fujiwara Nobuo Nakamura Haruko Sugimura
Music by	Kojun Saitō
Cinematography	Yuuharu Atsuta
Edited by	Yoshiyasu Hamamura
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	April 30, 1957
Running time	140 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Tokyo Twilight (東京暮色, Tōkyō boshoku^?) is a 1957 Japanese drama film by Yasujirō Ozu. It is the story of two sisters (played by Ineko Arima and Ozu regular Setsuko Hara) who are reunited with a mother who left them as children. The film is considered amongst Ozu's darkest postwar films; it is well-received though lesser-known.

Akiko Sugiyama (Ineko Arima) is a college student learning English shorthand. Her elder sister Takako (Setsuko Hara), running away from an unhappy marriage, has returned home to stay with Akiko and their father Shukichi (Chishū Ryū) in Tokyo, together with her toddler girl. Shukichi works in a bank in Tokyo. Akiko has a relationship with her college boyfriend Kenji (Masami Taura), which results in an unwanted pregnancy. Later, Akiko has an abortion, after an encounter in which she realizes that her boyfriend does not love her.

While going to a mahjong parlour to look for Kenji, Akiko comes across its proprietress Kisako (Isuzu Yamada), who seems to know a lot about her family. Back at home, Takako hears about Kisako from Akiko, and pieces together the fact that she is their long-lost mother. Takako visits the parlour to ask Kisako not to reveal to Akiko who she really is – but the plan backfires. Akiko learns of her visit and goes to confront Takako. Takako then discloses to her that Kisako is their mother, who ran away with another man when Akiko was still a toddler. Shaken, Akiko goes to confront Kisako to ask if she is the daughter of her father. She leaves in a huff, upset by Kisako abandoning her as a child, then goes to a Chinese noodle shop for some sake. Her boyfriend Kenji enters, and the two have an argument. Akiko leaves angrily, and is hit by a train at an intersection just outside the shop.