Tokyo Sonata 2008 123movies

Watch: トウキョウソナタ 2008 123movies, Full Movie Online – The wind of change is blowing as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it is just the beginning of a series of family shattering incidents leading to the implosion of the family unit..
Plot: Ryûhei Sasaki is keeping a secret from his wife, Megumi 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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Ratings:

	7.5/10 Votes: 10,836
	94% | RottenTomatoes
	80/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 154 Popularity: 8.189 | TMDB

Reviews:

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.

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Economic ruin seems to be all the rage these days – since the Japanese have gone through it all in the 90’s they have a bit of a head start over addressing it artistically. This is Kurosawa’s take on the humiliation job loss delivers to the Japanese male, and the ennui of modern middle class Japanese life.

Someone once wrote that every Japanese film maker eventually does his ‘Ozu’ movie, and for the first hour this seems to be Kurosawa’s. It starts out as a beautifully observed family drama, when a very ordinary Japanese family goes about their business, unaware that the father Ryuhei has been made redundant – his company realises they can cut costs by shipping out all admin to Dalian in China. In very Japanese fashion, he pretends nothing has happened, going to ‘work’ all day, which consists of sitting around waiting for food handouts, then coming home pretending everything is normal. In the meanwhile his oldest son fails to find a meaningful job and his youngest is struggling at school. His wife Megumi (a very fine performance by Kyoko Koizumi) keeps the family ticking over.

It seems to be well on its way to a quiet drama about a family coping under strain, but then the Ozu gives way to a bit of Haruki Murakami style magical realism – all sorts of unlikely events and coincidences take place, forcing everyone to confront their failures. This includes a frankly bizarre subplot featuring Iraq and what seems a pointless one about a kidnapping. It all ties together with an ending that thankfully falls just short of too much sentimentality.

It is an intriguing film, and one that does at least attempt to tackle real issues and themes in family life. Unfortunately, I think it is ultimately something of a failure – too often it meanders away in a manner that made me suspect the film maker just didn’t know where the narrative was going. I think in making this Kurosawa watched a lot of Ozu – its a pity he didn’t listen to Ozu’s advice that too much plot means you are manipulating your characters, and if you are manipulating them, you are not respecting them. I would consider this film to be an honorable failure, but still a failure on its own ambitious terms.

Other Information:

Original Language ja
Runtime 2 hr (120 min)
Budget 0
Revenue 0
Status Released
Rated PG-13
Genre Drama
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka
Actors Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Yû Koyanagi
Country Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong
Awards 10 wins & 9 nominations
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio 1.85 : 1
Camera Arriflex 535B, Zeiss Super Speed Lenses
Laboratory Tokyo Laboratory Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, Vision2 500T 5218)
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm (Kodak Vision Premier 2393)