Tokyo Sonata by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Originally published in January but lost due to matters beyond my control.

Tokyo Sonata on film and DVD

A film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tokyo Sonata whistles down the back of the spine as it highlights the helplessness that people feel when their jobs vanish overnight.

A Japanese family drama with excellent English sub-titles, it won a well-deserved award at the Cannes Film Festival 2008.

Tokyo Sonata has relevance on a worldwide scale; on a more local level, it provides a stark look at the widening rift between generations in Japan.

When Ryuhei Sasaki (played by Teruyuki Kagawa) is dumped from his ‘safe’ company job, he cannot bear to tell anyone. Every morning, he leaves home wearing a suit and tie, and carrying his briefcase.

He spends his days searching for work, and lines up at lunchtime for soup with the homeless.

One day, Ryuhei meets up with Kurosu (Kanji Tsuda), an old school friend. He seems very much in charge of operations in a big company.

But the truth comes out; he begs Ryuhei to go home for dinner with him and convince his wife they are working colleagues. The result is piteous.

Meanwhile, Ryuhei’s rebellious older son, Taka (Yu Koyanagi) wants to leave Japan and join the American army whilst younger son, Kenji (Kai Inowaki) has a dream of his own.

Young Kenji finds an electric keyboard in a stash of rubbish. He spends all his lunch money on piano lessons. But his father reacts volcanically when a letter arrives calling his son is a genius…

Ever patient wife, Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi) knows the truth about her husband and, when an incompetent burglar stumbles through the door, she goes with him. “I can’t go home,” she says adamantly.

In his cameo role as the thief, Koji Yakusho gives a remarkable and sometimes very funny counterpoint to the prevalent action in the film. Despite appearances, though, nearly everyone does have a chance to ‘start out over’.

Kenji (Kai Inowaki) in Tokyo Sonata

Tokyo Sonata is harbinger of a radical change for director Kurosawa, better known for his horror films, such as Cure and Kairo (Pulse).

The film appears to come from a movement inwards; highlighting the dramas that boil up within men when there is nowhere externally for them to go.

Tokyo Sonata has a 12A certificate. It opened selected cinemas nationwide on 30th January 2009 and is now out on DVD.