Desser spends much time on what will please film students around the world: technical details. Though later in the film he gets into more metaphorical meanings (especially during the drinking sequence,) he goes out of his way to explain the difference in the concept of space in Ozu cinema versus American cinema. For someone such as me, this is quite interesting, but for those of you truly affected by the emotional aspects of the film, you may find the commentary a bit dry. Still, it is jam-packed with good details regarding the film. I will admit that Tokyo Story did not strike me as worthy of it's S&S top 10 position, but this commentary gives good justice to the performances and style of the filmmakers without ever going into "well he's just amazing" which happens very often in commentaries.

Desser is clearly educated and knows his way around Ozu. But as the above review stated this can be very dry. If you are a filmstudent this will be very helpful, but other than explaning the composition and angles in the movie, there is little else that is mentioned. Although in it's field this is very good, it became pretty boring after a while. I don't mind, and even like commentaries like this, but he explains every frame pretty much in the same manner and gives little of entertaining value. Decent, but not for everyone. 6/10

I think I liked it better than the previous two reviewers, but yes, it is a bit slow and dry. Just like the film.

I finally saw this, after hearing about it for so long as being one of the greatest films ever. And after seeing it, was a little let down, so listened to the commentary right away. I appreciate the film more after hearing it, which tells you that it is a worthwhile listen.

There is a lot of redundancy, however, as the film has a lot of redundancy. Or at least simplicity in how it is filmed. And the story is drawn out.