Tonî Takitani (2004)

When technical illustrator Tony Takitani asks his wife to resist her all-consuming obsession for designer clothes, the consequences are tragic.

Director:

Jun Ichikawa

Writers:

Jun Ichikawa, Haruki Murakami (short story)

Stars:

Issei Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Shinohara Takahumi

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Issei Ogata	...	Tony Takitani, Shozaburo Takitani
Rie Miyazawa	...	Konuma Eiko, Hisako
Shinohara Takahumi	...	Young Tony Takitani
Hidetoshi Nishijima	...	Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yumi Endô
Miho Fujima	...	4th daughter
Miki Hayashida
Shizuka Moriyama
Hiroshi Yamamoto

Storyline

Due to his Western name, Tony was shunned by other kids and spent a solitary childhood. Though gifted as an artist, his drawings lacked feeling, so as an adult, he carved a career as a technical illustrator. Then in middle age, Tony suddenly falls for a pretty young woman, Eiko Konuma, who visits him one day on business. Eiko is like an angel in Tony's daily existence, and for the first time in his life, he feels connected to the outside world. However, Eiko does have one fault: she's a clothing shopaholic. Confusion also begins to develop when it appears that Eiko has a double.

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Plot Keywords:

japanese man | name as title | two word title | illustrator | obsession | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 January 2005 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Tony Takitani

Filming Locations:

Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Breath, Wilco Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nearly every shot in the movie moves from left to right, some are static (particularly toward the end) and only a few from right to left.

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Connections

References Vertigo (1958)

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Soundtracks

Solitude
Written by Ryuichi Sakamoto

User Reviews

Amazing adaptation that encapsulates Murakami's sense of humour and tragedy

He leads a simple life as an illustrator/designer, but suddenly becomes aware of his profound emptiness when he meets a younger woman in his middle-ages. She is the embodiment of "the perfect housewife", except for one thing, she as well have a profound emptiness inside her that she avoids facing through shopping brand clothes, Tony Takitani on the other hand is filled with joy over being married to her. When her shopping has went far beyond being an unhealthy addiction he tries to direct her away from it, which she agrees on, but then things does not stay as they wish.

I am not Murakami's biggest fan, I see his strong qualities, but am not to delighted with everything. Like his crazy metaphors that sometimes doesn't quite seem to say anything at all, his extensive half-intellectual hipster name-dropping and that you can read (at least some) of his works any way you want to as they are loaded with symbols and signifiers that doesn't add up anywhere in total, but you can take some of them and add them up someplace, things like that take away from the experience. That is they're too open for their own good, or for my enjoyment. This movie however does not have any of that and therefore is for me the essence of the good Murakami experience.