Tokyo Sonata (2008)

An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.

Director:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writers:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (screenplay), Max Mannix

Stars:

Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Yû Koyanagi

10 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Ryûhei Sasaki
Kyôko Koizumi	...	Megumi Sasaki
Yû Koyanagi	...	Takashi Sasaki
Kai Inowaki	...	Kenji Sasaki
Haruka Igawa	...	Kaneko-san The Piano Teacher
Kanji Tsuda	...	Kurosu
Kazuya Kojima	...	Kobayashi-san
Kôji Yakusho	...	Dorobô The Robber
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Faisal Ahmed	...	Train Conductor
Denden	...	Janitor
Jason Gray	...	Amerika no ashigaru
Hajime Inoue
Masayuki Ito
Kenji Kawahara
Toshiyuki Kitami

Storyline

The wind of change is blowing as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it is just the beginning of a series of family shattering incidents leading to the implosion of the family unit.

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Plot Keywords:

chinawoman | jarhead | military industrial complex | occupation | american occupation of japan | 

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Taglines:

Every family has its secrets. [USA release]

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language

Details

Country:

Japan Netherlands Hong Kong

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

27 September 2008 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Tokyo Sonata

Filming Locations:

Ebisu, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,345, 15 March 2009

Gross USA:

$278,356

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$943,547

Company Credits

Production Co:

Django Film, Entertainment Farm (EF), Fortissimo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References L'Argent (1983)

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Soundtracks

Claire de Lune
Composed by Claude Debussy

User Reviews

Resonates simplicity

Tokyo Sonata resonates such simplicity in its telling that it's difficult to not like the movie. But in doing so, it also becomes victim of over-simplifying many of the issues its main characters face. The story is of a family of four: The husband has just been downsized, the wife is stuck in mundane mediocrity, the elder son doesn't have any sense of identity and the youngest is a rebel (he wants to play the Piano!). In an attempt to retain his honor and respect at home, the husband hides his jobless status from his family. He dresses up every morning for work, but instead spends the day in the queue for jobless for free food, or job placement. While the first act sets the characters and their dilemmas quite well, it's the second act where the movie really fails to connect. The younger son's fascination with his Piano Teacher and the elder's change-in-career weakens the story-telling before picking up again for a fascinating (and weird) third act, when the situations of the characters open up for all. Some bizarre turn-of-events brings the movie to a close that could be worthy of a rousing applause, but gets an awed gaze of amazement instead.

My Rating --> 3.5 of 5