Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

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.

zetes Starts off wonderfully, but, as it nears the end, it starts to fall apart. In the very end, though, it pulls itself together well enough that I did like it, though I would consider it a disappointment (I had really been looking forward to it). Teruyuki Kagawa plays a salaryman who is laid off from his job. He does not tell his wife (Kyoko Koizumi) or two sons, but instead pretends he's still working while desperately looking for a new job. It kind of starts off like Cantet's Time Out, but it's a bit more focused on the rest of the family than that film was. Kurosawa is best known for his horror and thriller-type movies, and it's kind of nice to see him excelling so well at a domestic drama, almost of the same sort that Hirokazu Koreeda made the same year with Still Walking. Unfortunately, the film takes a weird turn in the final third. A bunch of crazy melodramatic thriller elements are added, and they all feel forced and unfitting. In particular, the plot line where the wife is kidnapped by a burglar feels too odd in this story. I think I understand what Kurosawa was going for, and I think he was actually trying to subvert the domestic drama somewhat, but he had such a powerful story going for him, and instead of subverting the genre, it feels more like he didn't know how to pull it all together to say something meaningful. The final sequence of the film is quite beautifully done, but it doesn't quite fix the problems that the odd developments created.

siderite For a foreigner like me, Japan is a mystery, both wonderful, weird and hard to understand, especially since most of my information about the country is anecdotal or (worse?) coming from mangas. I've met people having the greatest respect for Japanese customs and people who completely badmouth the country.From this perspective, Tokyo Sonata is a bit of a gem, showing me how ordinary Japanese people live and think. There is the family, standard issue of father, mother and two children, and there are the roles: head of the family, respectful housewife, rebellious teenager and confused child. What do they do when the economic crisis and the traditional value system clash?I thought the actors were good, the soundtrack as well (to be expected given the title), and the plot was slow but crisp. There must have been a lot of expectations on a guy directing movies when his last name is Kurosawa and not related to Akira, because the movie was overall an excellent film. However, given its two hour length and slow pace, I advice you look at it when in the mood for cinematography, not some easy entertainment. Also, it is a pretty sad drama in places, so be ready to empathize with some hard hit people.

8thSin A story about problems a typical dysfunctional family in Japan would have. The father loses job, but wants to stay as the authoritative figure in the household, tired and bored wife, son who joins the army to protect peace, and the younger son wants to learn piano, but couldn't because parents are against it.This film had a really nice flow. For a Japanese movie, it was very fast-paced and a lot happened. Direction was top-notch, and there were many funny and touching scenes. Music on this film is an unorthodox one that reminded me of another Japanese movie. I can't recall the title, but possibly "Unagi" (1997) or "Baka no Hakobune" (2003). The overwhelming contrast in the soundtrack and the piano performance in the end worked very well.The movie contains many clichés, but it turned out to be an unique and original piece with an excellent ending and message. A wonderful piece of true Japanese film.