Tokyo Sonata (Tôkyô sonata)
Francaise title: Tokyo sonata
Russian title: Токийская соната
Original title: Tôkyô sonata
Russian title: Токийская соната
Original title: Tôkyô sonata
Alternative titles:
Tôkyô sonata
Tôkyô sonata
Family drama – Japan
Production year: 2007
Movie length: 119 minutes
Production year: 2007
Movie length: 119 minutes
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka
Cinematograph: Akiko Ashizawa
Music: Kazumasa Hashimoto
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka
Cinematograph: Akiko Ashizawa
Music: Kazumasa Hashimoto
Movie description:
Tokyo Sonata is the latest invention of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s generous artistic soul, and an arche-typal product of a powerful cinema prone to investigating the borders between the visible and the invisible. Straying from the trendy J-horror genre, the master of Japanese chills ventures into family drama, territory that carries a different dark suspense.
Loyal salaryman Ryuhei Sasaki loses his job when his company begins out-sourcing to China. Incapable of facing the tragedy of his new reality, he hides his failure from his family and, weaving an intricate web of lies, pretends to have kept his job. As it turns out, he is not alone in this deception. At home, he tries to maintain the normal routine, though it soon be-comes clear that this family has tragically lost touch with one another. His wife Megumi attends to her chores and keeps up with their two boys, rebellious college-age Takashi and quiet, younger Kenji. However, nothing feels or looks the same for Ryuhei, who has lost his honour and his place in society. Kenji’s simple request for extra money to take piano lessons however tips the balance of their artificially sustained family stability, pushing it over a ruinous precipice of unforeseeable external events.
Kurosawa’s quiet, elegant direction guides his actors – especially Koizumi and Kagawa – to out-standing performances. As a wife left starving for affection and contact, Koizumi is devastating, and she never exploits the natural pathos of her character’s plight. At the same time, Kurosawa puts his own stamp on the domestic drama genre. The family is ordinary, but the narrative takes unusual turns. The mise-en-scène lends an eerie mood. Overall, the effect is of a poignant reflection on a kind of mass uncertainty sweeping Japan.
Loyal salaryman Ryuhei Sasaki loses his job when his company begins out-sourcing to China. Incapable of facing the tragedy of his new reality, he hides his failure from his family and, weaving an intricate web of lies, pretends to have kept his job. As it turns out, he is not alone in this deception. At home, he tries to maintain the normal routine, though it soon be-comes clear that this family has tragically lost touch with one another. His wife Megumi attends to her chores and keeps up with their two boys, rebellious college-age Takashi and quiet, younger Kenji. However, nothing feels or looks the same for Ryuhei, who has lost his honour and his place in society. Kenji’s simple request for extra money to take piano lessons however tips the balance of their artificially sustained family stability, pushing it over a ruinous precipice of unforeseeable external events.
Kurosawa’s quiet, elegant direction guides his actors – especially Koizumi and Kagawa – to out-standing performances. As a wife left starving for affection and contact, Koizumi is devastating, and she never exploits the natural pathos of her character’s plight. At the same time, Kurosawa puts his own stamp on the domestic drama genre. The family is ordinary, but the narrative takes unusual turns. The mise-en-scène lends an eerie mood. Overall, the effect is of a poignant reflection on a kind of mass uncertainty sweeping Japan.
Boy Actors
Photographs
More informations
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