Tokyo Sonata

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Movie: Tokyo Sonata
Japanese: トウキョウソナタ
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Max Mannix, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Sachiko Miura
Producer: Wouter Barendrecht, Yukie Kito
Cinematographer: Akiko Ashizawa
Release Date: September 27, 2008
Runtime: 119 min.
Studio: Entertainment Farm
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot

Like most other Japanese businessmen, Sasaki Hiroyuki - Dad - commutes to work every day on crowded Tokyo trains. Married to housewife Megumi - Mom - he leaves early and comes home late. This lifestyle does little to promote a bond with his two sons, Taka (18) and Kenji (11). Kenji, meanwhile, is a sensitive boy who has a secret desire to play the piano, an instrument Dad believes is only for girls.

The story, set in contemporary Tokyo, begins like any normal day, with Dad preparing to depart for work. Unlike other days, however, on this day Dad will unexpectedly lose his job. Facing totally unfamiliar circumstances, Dad decides not to tell Mom and to enter the world of the secretly unemployed. These are people who "save face" by concealing their unfortunate reality from family and friends while they look for new employment. With hope and a stoic commitment to carry the burden alone, Dad departs each day "for work," when, in fact, he is killing time in shopping malls and parks.

Paralleling Dad's plight is Kenji's story. Intimidated at school and forced to bring money for school bullies, Kenji is also concealing another truth. He is secretly using his karate tuition to pay for lessons on the piano, something he loves and does exceptionally well at. Each morning at breakfast, Dad and Kenji lie to Mom to maintain their secret lives. Questions about work, school and karate receive answers that avoid the truth.

Dad is eventually forced to accept a low-paying job that lacks prestige and is physically demanding: he becomes a janitor at a shopping mall near Kenji's school. Dad still refuses to tell Mom about his new job. Thus, he continues to leave for work and to return home in his business suit. Kenji's clean karate uniform, however, convinces Mom that he may not be training at all. One day after his janitorial work, Dad follows Kenji and discovers the truth. His blatant lying infuriates Dad, who bans him from both karate and the piano.

But Kenji's problems are just starting. He is again confronted by the bullies who demand the money that Kenji "owes" them. Unable to pay, Kenji find himself in a life-threatening situation. Only Dad can avert the situation... but in saving his son, both Dad's job and his falsehoods will be revealed...

Director's Statement

This film will portray a very ordinary family in modern Japan. I start from a point where lies, suspicion and a complete breakdown of communication already have established themselves within the family. Without a doubt, this is "modern" and this is also “Japan”. However, I would like to show a glimmer of hope in the end. Can I do that? Even if I could do so, would that be something that saves a conventional family? I just do not know now. Since I do not know, I have a strong desire to make this film. -- Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cast

Teruyuki Kagawa - Ryuhei Sasaki
Kyoko Koizumi - Megumi Sasaki
Kai Inowaki - Kenji Sasaki
Yu Koyanagi - Taka Sasaki
Haruka Igawa - Ms. Kaneko (teacher)
Koji Yakusho - Thief
Kanji Tsuda - Kurosu
Kazuya Kojima - Kobayashi-san
Takashi Kodama
Hajime Inoue

Trailer (Japan)

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Trailer (U.S.)

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Film Festivals

2008 (61st) Cannes Film Festival - May 14th-25th - Un Certain Regard *World Premiere
2008 (23rd) Mar del Plata Film Festival - November 6th-16th - International Competition
2009 (38th) International Film Festival Rotterdam - January 21st-February 1st - Spectrum
2009 (9th) Nippon Connection - April 15th-19th - Nippon Cinema

Awards

Best Actress: (Kyoko Koizumi) - 2008 (33rd) Hochi Film Awards
SILVER ASTOR to Best Director - 2008 (23rd) Mar del Plata Film Festival - November 6th-16th
Best Film - 2009 (3rd) Asian Film Awards (March 23rd)
Best Screenwriter - 2009 (3rd) Asian Film Awards (March 23rd)

Comments

Comment #1
lunapark6.com Says:
Mar 24 2009 12:19 am

There’s only a handful of films that I have seen that compares to “Tokyo Sonata.” Sam Mendez’s “American Beauty” and Toshiaki Toyoda’s “Hanging Garden” quickly comes to mind as they are both wonderful films that also tackle dysfunctional families with aplomb. “Tokyo Sonata” easily compares to these films and then some, as it uses the family structure to examine Japanese society at large. Well regarded director Kiyoshi Kurosawa steps away from the thriller/mystery/horror genres that have made him so well known in the international film festival circuits to make a harrowing film on the destruction of the family unit. But don’t take “Tokyo Sonata” as an utterly bleak film. The film brings out a message hope and ends on a completely uplifting note. Quite possibly, “Tokyo Sonata” will be remembered as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s masterpiece.

The Sasaki family consists of Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) as the father, Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi) the mother, Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) their teenage child, and Kenji their pre-adolescent child. Ryuhei is a mid-level manager in a corporation, but becomes expendable by cheaper Chinese labor. Ryuhei’s pride then pushes him into a downward spiral as he passes on remedial jobs and hides his unemployment status from his family. Ryuhei continues to leave for work everyday, but spends his time in the park or the library. Youngest child Kenji seeks to take piano lessons but his staunch father refuses to give his permission without even an explanation. Kenji then takes his monthly lunch allowance and pays for his own piano lessons. Disenfranchised teen Takashi tries to find himself in the adult world and, one day, abruptly announces his intention to join the American army. Through all of this, Megumi slowly watches her family unravel at the seams, while also becoming overwhelmed by her own inner disillusionment. Will the Sasaki family survive?

Performances are all around superb with Teruyuki Kagawa giving one of his most intense and electrifying performances to date. The scene where Kagawa confronts his son for taking piano lessons is worth the price of admission alone. Kagawa gives a look that would have made Mike Tyson look away in his prime. There’s also Kyoko Koizumi giving a more reserved performance that works tonally, to balance Kagawa’s high strung performance. Lastly, Kanji Tsuda gives a head turning performance as the fast talking, unemployed friend of Ryuhei.

“Tokyo Sonata” is multi-layered film that follows the path of a musical sonata in its narrative structure. Kurosawa uses naturalism in the first half of the film to lay out its story and then builds up to a dizzying crescendo with a more unpredictable style that’s familiar with Kurosawa’s past works. As you watch the Sasaki nucleus disintegrate, you can’t help to note the combination of exterior & interior forces that pushes and pulls the family apart. External factors like the ongoing world wide economic recession to America’s aggressive foreign policy all play their parts to disrupt the Sasaki family. Furthermore, Ryuhei’s staunch conservatism, rooted in the traditional Japanese viewpoints of the male authoritarian figure, does as much damage to the Sasaki family as those external factors.

With these myriad of factors, Kurosawa then brings to light the gaping distance found in the Sasaki home. Dinner time, the traditional moment where the family unit comes together, is frequently filmed with a long stationary shot that emphasizes the distance between the members and made even more pronounced by the frequent obstruction of view by household fixtures (stairway, cabinet, walls). Meanwhile, Megumi holds the family together with quiet reserve, typical of the traditional motherly figure, but also shown longing for her freedom. This is shown by her new driver’s license and her fondness for convertible sports car (note her metaphorical remark “wow the roof comes off?” at the car dealership).

The only blemish found in an otherwise mind blowing piece of work would lie with the extended beach scene involving Megumi and the thief (Koji Yakusho) at the beach. Hallmarks of a clichéd art film are found in these scenes, but you also have one incredibly sublime scene with Megumi stating her wishes to wake up from her lifelong dream.

And back to the musical sonata reference. Like the history of the musical sonata itself and its debated use of a rigid musical structure, that some have remarked to actually inhibit musical creativity, Ryuhei and the Sasaki family are finally able to find hope through abandonment of their rigid family structure. As Megumi so succinctly tells Ryuhei, “screw your authority.” When saving face is forgotten and honesty can come to the forefront, there is finally peace found in the Sasaki family. What a wonderful film.