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Tokyo Sonata

  • 2008
  • Tous publics
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
13K
YOUR RATING
Tokyo Sonata (2008)
An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
Play trailer1:55
1 Video
25 Photos
Drama

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

  • Director
    • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
  • Writers
    • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
    • Max Mannix
    • Sachiko Tanaka
  • Stars
    • Teruyuki Kagawa
    • Kyôko Koizumi
    • Yû Koyanagi
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    13K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
    • Writers
      • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
      • Max Mannix
      • Sachiko Tanaka
    • Stars
      • Teruyuki Kagawa
      • Kyôko Koizumi
      • Yû Koyanagi
    • 55User reviews
    • 132Critic reviews
    • 80Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 10 wins & 10 nominations total

    Videos1

    Tokyo Sonata: Trailer
    Trailer 1:55
    Tokyo Sonata: Trailer

    Photos25

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    Top cast19

    Edit
    Teruyuki Kagawa
    Teruyuki Kagawa
    • Ryûhei Sasaki
    Kyôko Koizumi
    Kyôko Koizumi
    • Megumi Sasaki
    Yû Koyanagi
    Yû Koyanagi
    • Takashi Sasaki
    Kai Inowaki
    Kai Inowaki
    • Kenji Sasaki
    Haruka Igawa
    Haruka Igawa
    • Kaneko-san The Piano Teacher
    Kanji Tsuda
    Kanji Tsuda
    • Kurosu
    Kazuya Kojima
    • Kobayashi-san
    Kôji Yakusho
    Kôji Yakusho
    • Dorobô The Robber
    Faisal Ahmed
    • Train Conductor
    Denden
    Denden
    • Janitor
    Jason Gray
    • Amerika no ashigaru
    Hajime Inoue
    Masayuki Ito
    Kenji Kawahara
    Toshiyuki Kitami
    Kazuki Namioka
    Ayako Sugiyama
    Yûya Takagawa
    • Director
      • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
    • Writers
      • Kiyoshi Kurosawa
      • Max Mannix
      • Sachiko Tanaka
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews55

    7.513.1K
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    Featured reviews

    5LunarPoise

    ordinary people doing extraordinary things

    Admin Chief and family patriarch Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) loses his job to the forces of globalization (the Chinese can fulfill his role cheaper), but keeps it secret from his family. Domesticity, already tense and stifling, teeters on the edge of crisis. Oldest son Takashi, inhabiting a different temporal zone from the rest of the family, looks to find peace by going, quite literally, to war. Youngest son Kenji (Kai Inowaki) harbours escape plans of his own, through a burgeoning musical talent. Even put-upon wife and mother Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi) feels the pressure build inside her, and her escape will be the most dramatic of all.

    The first 25 minutes of this tale crackle along in entertaining fashion. The various trials Sasaki faces in his quest for dignified employment are both sobering and amusing. In one sequence the action cuts with perfect timing from Sasaki being asked to perform a capella karaoke at a job interview, to Sasaki beating the hell out of accumulated junk at a soup kitchen. The comic tone is reinforced by the character of Kurosu, Sasaki's high-school classmate, who has turned unemployment and fooling the family into an art form. Or so it seems.

    It is the abrupt change in circumstances for the ill-fated Kurosu that ushers in a new, darker tone for the story. At this point the writers go after poetry, with various characters articulating the futility of trying to regain the past. A cameo by Koji Yakusho attempts to reintroduce some comic thread in the second-half, though this serves to make the abrupt end of that particular character arc somewhat incongruous. In short, when the film goes after poetry, it falls flat. Takshi's utterances on Japan-America relations are clunky, and Kenji seems wise far beyond his years in commenting on his piano teacher's divorce. Quite why she chooses to open up to a 10-year-old is also a mystery.

    The film throws everyone into crisis, and then brings them back at the end for temporary respite, in a scene that indulges sentimentality beyond acceptable limits. The journeys, not the outcomes, seem to be the thing. Especially Megumi's, in flight from the home to a place at the edge of the world, where she reaches for but can't quite obtain the light. Some will see this as a bold, lyrical choice by the filmmakers. For me it falls flat. Koizumi acts well with what she has been given, all the actors do, but these scenes are hauntingly lit interlopers with lines written by Samuel Beckett that seem to arrive from another film. If you accept that abrupt tone change after the first 25 minutes, you may celebrate this film. I found it too much to take.

    Kurosawa films Tokyo evocatively, the family home sandwiched between the ever-present trains and similarly ubiquitous power lines. The acting is mostly top drawer, with only Yu Koyanagi as Takashi failing to keep his end up. The issues addressed are all-too-real for many in present-day Japan, and beyond – Tom Wilkinson's character in The Full Monty faced a similar predicament to Sasaki. Unfortunately, the philosophising in the second half is less than convincing, and the ending far too contrived. Kurosawa has said some of the laughter at Cannes was inappropriate. On the contrary, the decision to ditch the comic thread in the latter sequences of the film, and the non-linear portrayal of events, is where the inappropriacy lies. Five stars for the first half.
    8freemantle_uk

    Compelling Japanese Family Drama

    Tokyo Sonata tells the story of a changing Japanese economy, social culture and employment culture and it effects on family. Here it is excellently told by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (surprisingly no relation to the great Akira Kurosawa).

    Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is a 46-year-old career man living in an industrial area of Tokyo with his family. Early on he looses his job when his department is out sourced to China, and he tries to hire the fact from his wife and children. Ryûhei tries to act normal whilst he spends his day at an employment agency, and waiting in the park with other unemployed people for free food. He meets a former schoolfriend, Kurosu (Kanji Tsuda), who also lost his job and hides the fact from his family. Kurosu gives Ryûhei tips on how to keep the charade, but the stress becomes too great on both men. Ryûhei slowly becomes more bitter and authoritarian at home. Ryûhei's family also suffer their own problems. His youngest son Kenji (Inowaki Kai) has problems in school, coming into conflict with one of his teachers, but he discovers his love and talent for the piano. He secretly takes lessons and his teacher wants him to audition for a music school, but this goes again his father's wishes in a Billy Elliot type sub-plot. Ryûhei older son Takashi (Yû Koyanagi) is more distance from his father, do small jobs, but he plans joining the American military. But again, Ryûhei forbids it, despite Takashi being old enough to make his own decision.

    Kiyoshi Kurosawa tells a low-key, but compelling story. He often uses wide shot, giving the audience the feeling like a bystander in these people's lives. Using wide shot forces allows the actors to put real power in their performances with long continuous shots and does not allow the audience to get distracted by continuous editing. Kurosawa is able keep the film going with a fast pace and compelling despite it's low key subject matter. Kurosawa also casted some superb actors who are all wondering in their performances in this film. This is also a film telling some interesting aspects of Japanese culture. The Japanese economy is changing: the notion that someone could have a job for life is disappearing, and that the Japanese economy is suffering the same issues as Anglo-Saxon style economies. The film also acts as a commentary about the Japanese family, where it is portrayed in an old-fashion way, the man runs the house and controls the money, but this system is changing, with the whole family rebelling, and with other Japanese people having a more enlightened view. The third theme is also shown through Takashi about a changing view of America in Japan. The Japanese have in the past had a hostile view to the American military presence in Japan, with incidents like the 1995 Okinawan rape incident, but a younger generation haven't had to suffer this, and the Japanese view of military action is also changing. This film will give you a lot to think about.

    Despite these good plots this film is far from perfect. By the end of the second and the beginning of the third act the plot starts to fall apart with some unrealistic events, which ruins the film overall. However Tokyo Sonata is a worthy film, showing that Japanese cinema is one of the best in the world. It also shows that Japanese cinema is more then just anime and violence manga adaptions like Battle Royale, which is also very very good.
    Duchess89

    A Tokyo Sonata

    Ryūhei a salary man loses his job, and is soon on the scrap heap of the unemployed, a very common and relevant case for so many in these times.

    In this case the film documents what it means to be a working man or woman, a case of how a job can define a person. In the case of Ryūhei it's the struggle to maintain that sense of honour and pride that is so ingrained in Japanese culture, that when he is finally let go, he simply packs his belongings from work and walks out-not a word to his colleagues, and not a word to his family.

    The next morning he leaves for 'work' donned in the usual work attire spending the day on the fringes of regular life-lining up for free food, sitting in public libraries, roaming the various employment offices for vacancies, then coming home earlier then usual to face the doom of subsequent family expenses (the son wants to take piano lessons, the wife wants a new car, the heater needs to be replaced).

    Despite the downward spiral into despair for which this film descends into,there is a feeling of a more hopeful future.
    9Davidon80

    A modern day Death of a Salesman

    Salary man loses his job and in order to save face lives a lie to his family by continuing to set off to work as if all was normal. Meanwhile his wife detects the changes whilst his two son's grow further away from him.

    The backdrop is the 2008 Japanese recession, and throughout we see suited figures walking ghostly across the screen, some looking for jobs, others like the lead character living their own lies. The movie doesn't pull any punches in it's damming portrayal of a modern Japan, throughout we see Tokyo portrayed as confined, gritty, cold and sterile. Gone are the neon and hyper kinetics of Shubuya or the affluent Ginza, what we have are job centre queues and homeless shelter camps.

    What this movie also draws light on is a sense of masculinity in the modern age. We have the sins of the father resonating throughout this movie adding to a greater sense of tragedy.

    Throughout Tokyo Sonata we feel as though the tragic nature of the storyline can only head in one direction, however whereas many tragedies shows art as destruction, here we have art as saviour.

    A truly touching movie, the likes of which I haven't seen in a while. The movie doesn't wallow in it's own self pity, what is shows is that all our destined paths can only be walked by us alone, no matter what ties and bonds we have made along the way.

    If every movie endeavoured to convey this stark yet simple message, then I'll be for that.
    7romeocine

    Enjoy with a Japanese family common problems

    After Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film Sakebi (2006), a horror one, comes out his last film Tokyo Sonata in which funny, dramatic, passionate and frustrated attitudes seem to be each one of the characters of the four personages in this film (the husband, the mother, the youngest son and the oldest son respectively) which catches spectator interest through the life of this Japanese middle-class traditional family. With a simply story depicted in Tokyo city and structured with events which show social-economic issues of ordinary people who try to manage without the century present problems, there is no lost for watching Tokyo Sonata. Also, enjoyable the breath of Japanese culture representation.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ryuhei goes to Hello Work to seek help finding a job. Hello Work is a Japanese government agency that tries to help people looking for employment.
    • Goofs
      Late in the movie the Mother lies on the beach allowing the ocean to wash over her. In her next scenes her clothes appear completely dry. Even allowing for the time she had to get home her clothes would still be damp and very uncomfortable to wear.
    • Quotes

      Megumi Sasaki: How wonderful it would be if my whole life so far turns out to have been a dream, and suddenly I wake up and I'm someone else entirely.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Wasurenai to chikatta boku ga ita (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      Claire de Lune
      Composed by Claude Debussy

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    FAQ18

    • How long is Tokyo Sonata?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 25, 2009 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Japan
      • Netherlands
      • Hong Kong
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Tokyo sonata
    • Filming locations
      • Ebisu, Tokyo, Japan
    • Production companies
      • Django Film
      • Entertainment Farm (EF)
      • Fortissimo Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $278,356
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $28,345
      • Mar 15, 2009
    • Gross worldwide
      • $943,547
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h(120 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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