Tokyo sonata [videorecording] - Tokyo sonata

This is a 2008 film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
The first half of the story looks okay, but the last half appears unnatural and unbelievable.
Especially, the robbery incident looks foolish and pathetic and seems to ruin the whole story.
After all, the screenplay is in a bad shape.
I feel like I've wasted two hours at the end of the film.

interesting both for its view of Japan and the universal family story.

Beginning with a portentous rainstorm and wrapping up to the gentle strains of Debussy, writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s jet black comedy (a very Japanese take on Laurent Cantet’s "Time Out" ) uses one family’s financial downfall to illuminate issues of Japan’s outdated patriarchy and the dehumanizing face of economic downsizing. A grandiose cinematic vision shackled by an uneven tone (slapstick, pathos, and irony make for uncomfortable bedfellows) and a few overly staged tangents (a night of madness seemed like it was lifted from a different film altogether). But the evocative cinematography is nicely done—a storm-obscured window dominates one frame while a sobbing character is picked out in shades of gold by the rising sun—and the spare soundtrack of two-fingered synthesizer chords sounds appropriately low rent. Kurosawa (no relationship by the way) may have been aiming for Ozu, but he got a twisted Capra with a few drops of Miike instead.

Good movie although need parental guidance to children watching it.

If you don't know much about Japan and its culture then this might be interesting for you. The first half wasn't bad but then the melodrama kicked-in and well by the end of it I was just hoping it would end.

Very good movie. Original story.. Great acting.. I recommend it!

An interesting movie into Japanese culture showing how repressed and unemotional they are dealing with life.

This film gave a reasonable surface story, but I felt, it didn't 'invest' in the characters, leaving me to not care about any of them too much.

This story could only happen in Japan. If you want to know about Japanese 'man pride' then this is an eye opener for you. Please don't judge the 'head of the house' by North American standards, but see it as 'loss of face' in the Japanese psyche.

As an outsider we perceive Japanese men as very controlled. The main character loses his job and tries very hard to hide his humiliation. For dramatic emphasis he encounters an old friend who also lost his job and has developed a number of strategies and posturings to protect his ego. As we follow the family we see how the downsizing has impacted his family and how they try to cope. The end of the movie shows a healthier acceptance of their fate.