TOKYO SONATA - Review

So, I've decided to do a review a day, so next up is Tokyo Sonata, directed by fan favourite Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who is famed for directed horror/thriller films most of the time.

What makes Tokyo Sonata different from his other films is that it's very...European? It doesn't play like a typical Japanese film by touches of very Japanese issues, which is what makes this film rather special.

The film is about a film that seems ordinary, but like every family, they have their secrets, and follows the lives of the family members and the lives that they live. The father who is fired from work tries to hide that from his family while doing other small jobs, the eldest son join the U.S Army to help 'save the world', the youngest son uses the lunch money he recieves from his mother to secretly learn piano against his fathers wishes, and the mother seems to get bored of her life and tries new things. And the film will follow these stories lines to a final act that you will either love or hate. I fall in the former.

The cinematography here is top notch, it's nothing over the top, but it's not something that you can ignore either, the film just feels right. The pacing is great as you never feel bored or saying to youself "ok...now what?". The film did have an American executive producer, and a western writer, so that might explain why this film does seem slightly westernised in some aspects, but Kurosawa does wonders with the camera that makes the film seem right.

The acting across the board is fantastic, however, the stand out for me would have to be Koizumi, who plays the mother, fans will remeber her from the J-Drama Tokyo Friends, and also having a small role in Sakuran, the review I ran yesterday. Though this isn't just a one man show, the strong acting from everyone helps the film move right along, the father himself is a very likeable, and dislikeable guy; which is something that is pretty hard to pull off for an actor.

The film touches on many aspects of Japanese life, such as unemployment and the embarassement that comes with it; looking for a job and the risks you would take to actually get that job (which has some humourous results in the film), family life is probably the most important role in the film. It tries to show, or hints on what it takes to get a family to work, and the final scene is something that will stay with you for a while after watching if you pay close attention to subtle hints in the film. It also touches on love and loss, and marriage, and the vows that a couple take, there was a point half way through the film where you just feel robbed of something, but in a good way; you try to say to yourself "what could he have done?", but this I won't spoil as you'll need to see it for yourself.

This is a pretty great film, and something that you should all seek out and watch. Oh, and the soundtrack it self is great, right from the very beginning it just captivates you and when the music starts, you won't it to stop.

Pros:

• Great acting and cast
• Super camera work and cinematography
• Thought provoking and quite homourous at times
• Wonderful soundtrack.

Cons:

• Might be too 'westernised' for some.