Tokyo Sonata

PG-13

Released Mar 13, 2009

1h 59m

Drama

List

94%

90 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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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

[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.

Oct 20, 2014

Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

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

Rated: 4/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Mark Peranson

Globe and Mail

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

Rated: 3/4

Sep 14, 2010

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

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

Rated: B+

Oct 10, 2023

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Projected Figures

It may be a departure from his recent forays into J-horror, but in this family drama and allegory of contemporary Japanese anxieties, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is still rocking a haunted house.

Jan 16, 2022

Full Review

Dustin Chang

Floating World

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.

Mar 24, 2021

Full Review

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JJJJJJ J

Slow moving, methodical, beautiful, thoughtful movie. I first have to start by saying it took me 3 attempts to watch this. It is a slow moving movie and if you aren't up for that you will not enjoy it. That being said if you are this movie is quite deep and has something to say. It is both a critique of Japanese society at the time but also maybe also has a more deeper message about happiness, life, and what it means to be human. This movie is definitely not for everyone but I great movie for those interested in it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/19/23

Full Review

William D

The movie began well, focusing on a man's struggle with unexpected unemployment and his desire to keep it secret from his family. Eventually, the characters' stories went off in some weird and rather implausible directions and I lost interest.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

isla s

This is a somewhat clever film about members of the same family who have their own secrets to hide - not wanting to tell relatives what their doing for fear of judgement. It provides an insight into male shame and dignity perhaps...male peer pressue in Japanese culture. Its a pretty low key film, with some thought provoking dialogue. Its not exactly a gripping watch but I liked the way the plot progressed. If you can stick with it, its worth seeing, though it's not exactly an entirely impactful film, it is thought provoking and it's still worth seeing. Quirky, mundane, interesting. Not great but definitely not bad.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The financial crisis of 2008 rocked the world — sometimes we forget this. In Japan, losing one's job is particularly devastating as there exists a stigma and cultural sense of shame that accompanies the horrific news. Tokyo Sonata follows the Sasakis, a middle-class family whose home bumps up against train-tracks. Ryūhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) is the family's patriarch who loses his job in "administration" in the opening scene. You feel for him, but soon learn that the entire system for which he profited is flawed as he cannot even state his skills to prospective employers — the benign question, "What are your skills?" completely befuddles the man. Ryūhei's storyline is the most compelling — he runs into a childhood friend who has also lost his job (Kanji Tsuda), but pretends to go to work every day, setting his phone to call him every 20 minutes so he can appear busy — but we also follow the three other members of the family, none of whom have the most interesting threads. Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi), Ryūhei's wife, seeks purpose as a homemaker and struggles with how to handle her husband's firing, that is, when it eventually comes to light. Kenji (Kai Inowaki) becoming a piano prodigy seemed to come out of nowhere and Takashi's (Yu Yoanagi) storyline probably could've been cut altogether — foreign nationals who are not residents of the U.S. can join the military and fight in our wars?? Ryūhei lashes out ostensibly as the family's patriarch, but really because it's the only thing he has control over anymore. To end the film, the parents come to accept their cold reality and embrace in the light that is their piano prodigy son. Tokyo Sonata is a movie about purpose, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

nefasto r

The story of this family is touching and sometimes comical, and the slightly hallucinatory touches work on some internal level, still I think there is a lack of focus regarding the story in general and the ending in particular that makes me dubious.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The film is as dynamic as a classical piece, full of a wide range of emotions, thoughts and places, perfeclty put together to achieve finesse.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

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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: Yasushi Kotani, Michael J. Werner
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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