Tokyo Sonata

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Tokyo Sonata

PG-13,

2009,

1h 59m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

94%

86 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

86 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is keeping a secret from his wife, Megumi (Kyôko Koizumi), and his two teenage sons. Even though he leaves the house every day, he's not really going to work. He's going to an employment office. He recently lost his job due to outsourcing, but is determined to find another position, all while supporting an old friend who is also out of work. But when Megumi accidentally finds out Ryûhei's secret and doesn't tell him, her trust in him, and their marriage, suffers.

Critics Consensus

J-Horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa turns successfully to dramedy and gives a unique (and specifically national) perspective to the universal subjects of family and identity.

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Genevieve Yue

Film Comment Magazine

Oct 20, 2014

[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.

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Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

Nov 17, 2011

4/5

The movie slides into a kind of bizarre hyperreality that makes its desperation slightly hallucinatory but, paradoxically, more moving.

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Mark Peranson

Globe and Mail

Sep 14, 2010

3/4

Though far from flawless, it's an adventurous work that is both disturbing and ultimately moving.

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Oct 10, 2023

B+

Beautifully shot film that's like an Ozu family drama.

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Dustin Chang

Floating World

Mar 24, 2021

Kurosawa manages to hover right above all the stereotypical situations and makes it work with great editing, sound and intimate cinematography(by Akiko Ashizawa). And one of the most beautiful endings I've seen in movies in years.

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Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

Apr 13, 2020

Using utter realism, Kurosawa presents the hardships a family faces in the middle of the financial crisis, similar to the same bitter truth Sam Mendes showed in "American Beauty".

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Leia G

Jul 31, 2017

Very smart movie. Funny at times. Sad and tragic at others. But all is not lost. The director, who himself does not have children, in an interview, stated that he used his own interactions with university students, acquired while teaching them about movies. In his words, the younger generation is different. They want to do things in their own unique way and not necessarily in a bad way. The child actor, Yu Koyanagi, shares some of the character's perseverance. He, himself had decided to become an actor without any encouragement or help from his parents. Trust the younger generation and you will not be sorry.

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Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Director

Teruyuki Kagawa

Ryuhei Sasaki

Kyôko Koizumi

Megumi Sasaki

Kai Inowaki

Kenji Sasaki

Haruka Igawa

Ms. Kaneko

Yû Koyanagi

Taka Sasaki

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Synopsis

Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is keeping a secret from his wife, Megumi (Kyôko Koizumi), and his two teenage sons. Even though he leaves the house every day, he's not really going to work. He's going to an employment office. He recently lost his job due to outsourcing, but is determined to find another position, all while supporting an old friend who is also out of work. But when Megumi accidentally finds out Ryûhei's secret and doesn't tell him, her trust in him, and their marriage, suffers.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Producer: Wouter Barendrecht, Yukie Kito
Screenwriter: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka
Distributor: Regent Releasing
Rating: PG-13 (Thematic Elements|Brief Strong Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 13, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 14, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $277.3K
Runtime: 1h 59m

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