Tokyo Sonata

Genre: Drama

Language: Japanese

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Retribution)

Cast: Inowaki Kai, Teruyuki Kagawa (Tokyo!), Kyôko Koizumi (Gu-Gu the Cat)

Runtime: 119 minutes

Plot:

The story concerns a Japanese businessman, husband, and father of two, who unexpectedly loses his job. Unable to break the news to his devoted wife, he dresses up every morning and pretends to go to work, instead wasting the days away with a former classmate who is also unemployed. Although they aren't aware of his contradictory behavior, his family begins to disobey him nonetheless. His teenage son enlists in the Army in order to fight for the United States, while his adolescent son goes behind his back to take piano lessons. The longer his charade goes on, the less control he has as patriarch, creating an even deeper divide between him and his family.

Watched the movie on 21 Sep @ The Cathay Picturehouse

ah-deng says: 4 / 5 I believe that in Japan society, there is this invisible responsibility cap men are wearing. They felt they should be the ones protecting the family, and couldn't face the reality once they faced failure. When the male lead's former classmate committed suicide with his wife, it just showed that they are being coward, not willing to face reality. Should this happened to an American family, things may worked out differently.