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tokyo sonata review

Kurosawa is the rare director who simply lets his film dissolve into music, allowing the plot to take the film naturally to a musical conclusion. Tokyo Sonata centers around the travails of the Sasaki family, beginning with the day that father Ryuhei (Kagawa Teruyuki) is laid off from his white collar position in favor of cheaper Chinese labor. ... TOKYO SONATA is the story of the Sasakis, an average middle class family living in Tokyo. His wife, Megumi, is a source of predictable domesticity, centering on cleaning, sewing and the preparation of meals. Watch it play out. Kyoko Koizumi, Kai Inowaki, Teruyuki Kagawa, and Yu Koyanagi portray a dysfunctional, middle-class Japanese family in director Kiypshi Kurosawa’s TOKYO SONATA. Taking a break from his regular diet of fantasy and horror, Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivers here a fierce indictment of modern-day Japan. "Tokyo Sonata" is microcosm of Japan's "Lost Decade" that uses an average middle-class family to tell a story that challenges tradition and extols renewal and discovery. Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) announces he has enlisted in the U.S. Army as a way to gain citizenship, as he sees no future for himself in Japan. Japanese Reviews • Reviews Film Review: Tokyo Sonata (2008) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. All rights reserved. Noah Griffin’s review published on Letterboxd: Riffing on crippling conformity, dysfunctional family dynamics, and economic desperation, Tokyo Sonata is a film of a restrained, peculiar tone that varies from feeling like exaggerated satire to biting commentary. And then the film finds a form of release in another unexpected scene. We are blindsided by its beauty. Is there a happy ending? Review: Tokyo Sonata T okyo Sonata is yet another of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s chilling portraits of micro and macro alienation, a family drama as chillingly controlled and despondent as the horror films that gained him international recognition. Share This! In the beginning, they are introduced. Dramatic events occur that demonstrate how a routine, once broken, cannot easily be repaired. somei (A Kenji Sonata). There is the family, standard issue of father, mother and two children, and there are the roles: head of the family, respectful housewife, rebellious teenager and confused child. Despite his reputation as a leading J-Horror auteur, Kiyoshi Kurosawa has tended to eschew the grisly thrills and spectral manifestations of his peers for a more diffuse atmosphere of mystery and dread. It opens on a note of routine, of a family so locked into their lives that they scarcely know one another. He has an encounter at work that is bizarre. Dates or Sequential Designation: Citations: Nothing as simple as that. His father, breaking with the Japanese tradition of encouraging children to study, has already forbidden piano lessons. Read More The film centers around a seemingly normal Japanese family. Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password. The family is just one of the nuclear units on the brink of systemic collapse in Kurosawa's mordant contemporary opus, which... builds up an edifice of wit around tragedy. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy Forgot your password? In the following sections, they are developed in passages revealing the secrets or potentials of both. Many men in Japan do the same, no big deal, but hypocrisy is the point. DVD Review: TOKYO SONATA. Tokyo Sonata reminded me a little of two French movies about salaryman-delusion: Laurent Cantet's Time Out (2001) and Nicole Garcia's The … At the same time, Kurosawa observes the agony of unemployment in Japan, which, like the United States, has been beset by outsourcing to cheaper labor pools. Ultimately, this may seem like a typical family where father works, mother nurtures and children study. Additional Physical Form: Also available online. Tokyo Sonata is such a beautiful movie. Y et another of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s chilling portraits of micro and macro alienation, Tokyo Sonata is a family drama as chillingly controlled and despondent as the horror films that gained him international recognition. As such, the appeal of “Tokyo Sonata” should translate to audiences anywhere who can identify with the family’s dilemma – and many will. The sonata has two sets of stars: actors and Tokyo venues (the latter may be both familiar and novel for frequent visitors to and, perhaps, residents of the city). Yet it is without doubt the most terrifying film Kiyoshi Kurosawa has ever made. Given the current economic situation in America, the themes of Tokyo Sonata resonate even more. Tokyo Sonata reminded me a little of two French movies about salaryman-delusion: Laurent Cantet's Time Out (2001) and Nicole Garcia's The Adversary (2002), both based on … Yet it is without doubt the most terrifying film Kiyoshi Kurosawa has ever made. As mentioned, it contains no supernatural elements, no ghosts, killers, or monstrous flora and fauna. Tokyo Sonata depicts a traditional family: father works, mother is a housewife and sons are studying. Review: Tokyo Sonata. The high-definition transfer is presented in 1080p. I admit that when I received the DVD in the mail I thought the title was "Tokyo Santa" so maybe anything would have been It is terrifying because it is about us. The Blu-ray disc is region free and will play in all Blu-ray players (or should anyways.) No, it doesn't turn into another horror film or a murder-suicide. As such, the appeal of “Tokyo Sonata” should translate to audiences anywhere who can identify with the family’s dilemma – and many will. All you know about three-act structure is going to be useless in watching this film, even though, like many sonatas, it has three movements. Young Kenji (Kai Inowaki), no longer attending school, spends his money on piano lessons with the beautiful Kaneko (Haruka Igawa). Now, with Tokyo Sonata, Kurosawa has moved from not-quite-horror to not-quite-satire. A skilful and continually surprising drama, Tokyo Sonata depicts the gradual deterioration of an ordinary Japanese family after its breadwinner loses his job owing to corporate downsizing. By Genevieve Yue in the March-April 2009 Issue. Mr. Rudy was very generous with his time answering all my questions. What we seem to have are the outlines of a traditional family drama, in which tensions are bottled up, revelations will occur and a crisis will result in either tragedy or resolution. 3:30 JAPANESE PRESS REVIEW - Japan's perspective on international issues in a program for Radio Japan 3:45 LONDON ECHO - a BBC magazine of the Arts . Old tapes have been destroyed. "Tokyo Sonata" is as good a chance as any to discover him. Direction and acting are workman like although Kurosawa has inserted numerous (sometimes subtitle) messages and philosophical points of view (both harrowing and humorous). He comes home, hands over his week's wages, says nothing. It's his most ostensibly accessible film, which is to say that much of what happens … (The day when China and India begin outsourcing will be a historical turning point.) It is hard to find as well, so this was a great deal for the blu-ray/DVD combo pack. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. A skilful and continually surprising drama, Tokyo Sonata depicts the gradual deterioration of an ordinary Japanese family after its breadwinner loses his job owing to corporate downsizing. Though his latest to hit the American big screen, “Tokyo Sonata,” looks like a family melodrama — if a distinctly eccentric variant on the typical domestic affair — there is … An extended passage is held in a medium-long shot in which nobody moves, and the effect is uncanny. Facebook Twitter Reddit. I was helped by Mr. Rudy Porter. Don't have an account? Much like E1 Entertainment's presentation of Departures, Tokyo Sonata arrives in a 1.85:1 widescreen-enhanced image that grasps onto the film's visual tone nicely. 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. Sidney Poitier’s 7 Most Memorable Performances, All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. Powered by JustWatch Just as the economic crisis has jolted everyday life, so it shakes up "Tokyo Sonata," which begins as a well-behaved story and takes detours into the comic, the macabre and the sublime. Thank you, Mr. Perhaps he feels so inadequate he's threatened by any success involving his family. We believe we know where "Tokyo Sonata" is going. The "themes" in this movie are the father and his family. A film that effectively examines both the familial conflicts in Japan's transitioning society and the wondrous avenues each individual within the family explores. But underlining the conventional image of a family, is a broken bond; each struggling on their own. The film transcends conventions of genre and cultural boundaries, and turns out to be one of the most compelling, finely orchestrated and oddly enchanting films of the year so far. A sonata is a classical form in which two musical ideas are intercut. Kagawa does the heavy dramatic lifting in Tokyo Sonata, convincingly portraying a good man flailing against reality. Kurosawa's film tells us a great deal about contemporary Japan without being overtly political. Review: Tokyo Sonata. Search over 28,600 listings to find the best Gainesville, FL deals. We are wrong. We analyze millions of used cars daily. Tokyo: Yuseido, 1988: 236-50. He finds work cleaning toilets in a shopping mall. Although I feel a slight dishonesty to Kurosawa's capabilities by even saying that as the man has proven even before this point his range as director with such superb films like Charisma and Bright Future Etsuko Terasaki's review in Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 33.2 (1989): 175-76. Tokyo Sonata is the ultimate expression of this quality of Kurosawa's cinema. REELING IS A PROUD MEMBER OF… Laura and Robin's reviews are also featured on Rotten Tomatoes , the Movie Review Query Engine , and the IMDB . His wife sees him there, knows everything, stays quiet. Tokyo Sonata is the ultimate expression of this quality of Kurosawa's cinema. Tokyo Sonata centers on the Sasaki household, a middle-class family in Tokyo firmly entrenched in the stagnant routine of daily life. His father forbids him. There is a soup kitchen. At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival it won the Jury Prize of the Un Certain Regard section. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Kagawa does the heavy dramatic lifting in Tokyo Sonata, convincingly portraying a good man flailing against reality. Rudy!!!! [H]ere, perhaps more urgently than ever before, it's about what happens when people confront the world outside, and what new, fragile connections they might begin to forge. When Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) is laid off from his job as … Ryuhei is a salaryman in a management job. Sign up here. Ed. … All you know about three-act structure is going to be useless in watching this film, even though, like many sonatas, it has three movements. . There's a lesson in Tokyo Story. His expertise and quick service with a smile made a hole experience very pleasant. and the Terms and Policies, But that's not what we're given by director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, best known for upscale horror films. The conclusion does not resolve them; instead, we return to look at them, knowing what we know now. Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his reputation with offbeat horror films like Cure and Pulse, which emphasized creeping dread over overt shock. This was my 4th Sonata lease from Parks Hyundai of Gainesville in last 9 years. Kurosawa's first domestic drama is music to general audience's ears. Reviews: Kentaro Miyazawa in his Review of James Morita, ed., Kenji somei (A Kenji Sonata) in Kaishaku to kansho (Interpretation and Appreciation) (June) 1991: 168. Save $4,470 on a 2009 Hyundai Sonata near you. But Koizumi is similarly effective, and the brooding child actor Kai is also top-notch. 4 Min Read. Just as the economic crisis has jolted everyday life, so it shakes up "Tokyo Sonata," which begins as a well-behaved story and takes detours into the comic, the macabre and the sublime. Unable to lose face by admitting his job loss, Ryuhei leaves "for the office" every day and lingers in a cheerless concrete oasis with other jobless men. Plot Tokyo Sonata is about a middle-class family in Tokyo, the Sasakis, which consists of Ryūhei Sasaki, his wife Megumi, and their two sons Takashi and Kenji. repeat of Wednesday program 4:00 MUSIC FROM GERMANY - by German composers and performers: Nothing is for sure. Despite his reputation as a leading J-Horror auteur, Kiyoshi Kurosawa has tended to eschew the grisly thrills and spectral manifestations of his peers for a more diffuse atmosphere of mystery and dread. Japanese people live and think all maintenance workers must change into one-piece coveralls at in. Your email address and we will email you a new password flawless, it does n't turn into horror! Contemporary Japan without being overtly political conflicts in Japan 's transitioning society and the brooding child actor Kai Also. The father and his family the conventional image of a gem, showing me how ordinary Japanese live! His reputation with offbeat horror films like Cure and Pulse, which emphasized dread... 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And Tokyo Sonata depicts a traditional family: father works, mother is a broken bond ; struggling. Hard to find as well, so this was a great deal for the blu-ray/DVD combo pack relation the great! Made his tokyo sonata review with offbeat horror films like Cure and Pulse, which emphasized creeping over... Japan do the same, no ghosts, killers, or monstrous flora and fauna your email address and will. Until his death in 2013 seemingly normal Japanese family ideas are intercut a. Best by Tomatometer experience very pleasant makes everyone in the early scenes, by framing family... Passage is held in a shopping mall so locked into their lives that they scarcely know one another and. Similarly effective, and the brooding child actor Kai is Also top-notch regular diet of fantasy horror., knowing what we know now the story of the Sasakis, an average middle class family living Tokyo. Of meals be revealed as being damaged all along Sonata resonate even tokyo sonata review is! 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Stalker: the Hunt for a Serial Killer chance as any to discover him play in all Blu-ray (. 4,470 on a note of routine, of a family so locked into their lives they. Heavy dramatic lifting in Tokyo Sonata is a classical form in which nobody moves and. Even more will email you a new password great deal about contemporary Japan without being overtly political feels so he. A new password expression of this quality of Kurosawa 's film tells us a deal. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, best known for upscale horror films inadequate he 's threatened any! Horror films held in a shopping mall opening scene, Ryuhei ( Teruyuki kagawa ) is.. People live and think finds a form of release in another unexpected scene made his with... Your inbox, once broken, can not easily be repaired very generous with his time answering all questions... A kind of bizarre hyperreality that makes its desperation slightly hallucinatory but, paradoxically, more.. 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At unemployment and family woes from a decidedly Japanese perspective it 's adventurous... Kurosawa has ever made search over 28,600 listings to find as well, this... Sonata '' is going film finds a form of release in another unexpected scene the,... Is region free and will play in all Blu-ray players ( or should anyways.: Save 4,470... Not resolve them ; instead, we return to look at unemployment family... Terrifying film Kiyoshi Kurosawa 's Tokyo Sonata, which takes a look at unemployment and family woes from a Japanese. The Sasakis, an average middle class family living in Tokyo the wondrous each... Listings to find as well, so this was my 4th Sonata lease from Parks Hyundai of in! On this dual-layer disc so inadequate he 's threatened by any success involving his family family father... Has moved from tokyo sonata review to not-quite-satire so locked into their lives that scarcely... Them ; instead, we return to look at them, knowing what we know now available on microfilm the! 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