ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

IncaWelCar In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Aleksandar Sarkic Kiyoshi Kurosawa is more known to western audiences for his psychological horror films, but most people don't know he is capable for directing great drama movies. I must admit i never looked to his horror work, before Tokyo Sonata i have only watched Bright Future, a really interesting movie which i also highly recommend, and after that Tokyo Sonata comes natural as next to look from his opus. Here like in Bright Future the main characters are ordinary people, only differences is that in Bright Future main themes were about youth which don't see any future, here we have family as a whole, which is falling apart because of economic recession. Many people have some fairy picture of Japan and living in Japan, but ordinary people have the same problems like in other parts of the world, the main problem is unemployment and not capability to find any job after you cross 40 years. The same happened to our main character in the movie Ryuhei Sasaki (played by fantastic Teruyki Kagawa). Japan was always patriarchal society so because of that he conceal that he lost a job from his own family, it is shameful for him. It was very painful for me to watch because i am in very similar situation myself but somehow at the end of watch i feel-ed comfort after watching these movie, i like the ending, and it's message, that family must stick together and everything will be okay at the end. Also worth mentioning is some kind of unique humour which i also noticed in Bright Future, especially i think on the part with the robber played by Kurosawa regular Koji Yakusho. Tokyo Sonata has also fantastic haunting and melancholic soundtrack done by Japanese experimental musician Kazumasa Hashimoto, it goes so well with the scenes in the movie and landscape of Tokyo Metropolis. I highly recommend this movie you will not regret, it is worth your time, my grade 8/10.

leoperu Kiyoshi Kurosawa, well-known for his J-horrors (none of which I have seen), directed this both serious and funny study of relations between old and young, male and female, East and West, counterbalancing the somewhat formulaic, spoon-feeding script with visually as well as acoustically pleasing presentation - quiet, mellifluous, with allusions to Ozu ... Yet in its second third the movie takes a sudden action twist and changes its pace and character : from now on, we are dwelling in the realm of a parable where everyone has to learn his/her lesson, and the clichéd ending tells us that ... um ... it's good to have at least one prodigy in the family ...? Bonus Q+A left me wondering how a publisher of Eureka's stature could come up with such heap of platitudes which one is used to expect from actors but not from the director.

freemantle_uk 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.

arthera09 I am going to say right off the bat that I am only give this an 8 is because I probably never watch this again and I do not think I ever really need to see it again. I would recommend to my movie fan friends, but not much more than that and I would only recommend if they feel like a Japanese movie about a modern Japanese family in Tokyo. I thought it was a fantastic film and there was plenty that I felt was just absolutely perfect. The mother was my favorite character and the scene was she asks someone to pull her up was beautiful and then when she pulled herself up from her nightmare later in the movie was the perfect contrasting moment. I loved her zombie walk at the end even though it was a little over the top. I think my favorite thing about the movie was how it never showed the glitzy upbeat part of Tokyo and showed what a family growing up and living there sees. For me some of the scenes were extremely personal for me and one scene in particular could have been a exact shot of our family life and my interactions with my own father. Tokyo really is its own character here and not the Tokyo I was expecting. I loved some of the set up shots at the beginning that gave me the sense of what the city was like for these people. I love the timing on the train when it passed by the house. The kid was surprisingly good and was completely convincing for me. I guess I related to that character to a lot so it was easy for me to see him as a complete character. For the last scene which of course is slightly cliché and gives the movie a nice and warm feeling that my mom loved, but my favorite part of that scene was watching the father tear up. He never actually cries, but you see he really has a moment there. There were multiple scenes that made me smile as I watched them because they were really well done. The director has a future and I may keep an eye on him.