Perfectly timed given the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Criterion’s stand-alone Blu-ray release of director Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad (Tokyo orinpikku, 1965) is not just the best of the Olympic Games films, but a great film generally. Even if, like this reviewer, you have minimal interest in sports, it’s enthralling from beginning to end and, in retrospect, quite moving.
The 1964 Summer Olympics marked two sea changes: it symbolized Japan’s resurrection from the ashes of the Second World War into a peaceful, first-world nation, but equally significant the Games themselves were the last largely unsullied by politicization (shattered by the terrorist acts at the 1972 Games in Munich) and commercialization. The athletes are true amateurs without big corporate sponsors and the Games’ message of peace and international friendship is so genuine, so hopeful, it’s both exhilarating to see…Read the entire review
From http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=74397
