Tokyo Sonata

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Tokyo Sonata

PG-13

2009

1h 59m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

87 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

10/20/2014

[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

11/17/2011

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

09/14/2010

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

10/10/2023

B+

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

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Dustin Chang

Floating World

03/24/2021

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

04/13/2020

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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Andrew S

@Malasita Jul 6

Very good film about a family

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Dani G

@RT81139271 Aug 25

The things you do to maintain certain level of image. Liers everywhere!!

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Dušan A

@RT86182278 11/18/2024

Beautiful camera and a well-written story, just not speaking so much to me

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JJJJJJ J

@RT10868636 08/19/2023

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.

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William D

@acsdoug 03/30/2023

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.

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isla s

@RT89656869 09/03/2022

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.

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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