Tôkyô Sonata (2008)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 119 minuten
Alternative titles: Tokyo Sonata / トウキョウソナタ
Country:
Japan / Netherlands / Hong-Kong
Directed by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Stars: Kôji Yakusho, Kyoko Koizumi and Teruyuki Kagawa
IMDb score:
7,6 (13.876)
Releasedate: 27 September 2008
Tôkyô Sonata plot
"Every family has its secrets."
The film tells the story of an apparently ordinary Japanese family. The father is suddenly fired and hides this from his family. The eldest son is studying and hardly ever comes home. And the youngest son secretly takes piano lessons, without informing his parents. Finally, the mother, who knows deep down that her job is to keep the family together, can no longer muster the motivation for this. To the outside world everything seems normal, as if nothing has ever changed. But quietly, the first signs of a rift within the family appear.
Actors and actresses
Ryuhei Sasaki
Megumi Sasaki
Kenji Sasaki
Takashi Sasaki
Kaneko
Kurosu
Mr. Kobayashi
Robber
Reviews & comments
BBarbie
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- 12893 messages
- 7675 votes
Unfortunately, the film takes a deep slump from the moment that the mother is taken hostage, the father finds an envelope with money and the youngest son ends up in jail. And all at the same time. That overly contrived twist of the story lowers the level of the film. Up to that point it is a fascinating socio-psychological drama about a family, that hangs together like loose sand. Sorry about the twists.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fisico
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- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
I can only endorse the above posts. Strong family drama in which the close-knit structure is more disjointed due to the diverse behavior of a number of family members. Therefore not always very dramatic, just the normal course of events between, for example, the children of the family and their parents. Well, the father was an outsider. Not covered for the first time, but I can't immediately recall a similar movie where a fired dad was wandering the streets looking for a job, but couldn't tell his wife. Must come out sooner or later of course. "It's not what you think!", Haha, how else are you supposed to interpret it?
Not that this couldn't happen in the West, but I think that in the highly work-conscious Japanese culture this shortcoming is seen as a kind of failure and a sense of shame. I would have preferred the film to go deeper into that. Was well put together until after halfway through the director they take a different path and for me it just kills the film with various unrealistic plot twists that had nothing to do with the film anymore. Fortunately, the film ended serenely.
So a bit disappointed, but overall I was certainly entertained and fascinated watching the Sasaki family and their affairs.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mjk87 (moderator films)
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- 14760 messages
- 4630 votes
Mediocre. Basically this can produce a good drama, but I do think that very exaggerated choices are always made and that too much drama is created. I didn't really believe it all, so the film didn't fascinate or touch me. Quite deadly in a drama. Pretty well acted otherwise, visually fine and sometimes very atmospheric and with a strong visual power (such a shot of small cluttered houses at the bottom, a highway halfway through the frame and modern skyscrapers at the top was beautiful) and in the beginning some nice scenes. But soon after that the film lost me. 2.5*.
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