Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata

Screens : Thu Oct 9: 6 and Sat Oct 11: 9:15

Tokyo Sonata may not have had me at hello, but it definitely had me at goodbye.   It’s hard for me to say more than that the last scene in the film makes a somewhat muddled last third completely worth it.   Put briefly, Tokyo Sonata is a story a family and individuals who start to unravel after their father loses his job. The catch, none of them really know that he has lost his job, he keeps it to himself and spends his days lounging in a homeless park in his suit.

The film works as both a character study and a family drama.   One where both entities start out with very controlled emotions and slowly let them slip as their lives become too much.    This causes some turns that I didn’t so much care for in the last third about the film but overall the film had more moments I likes than disliked. What struck me most about the film was the quiet moments we sit with the characters and simply watch them and wonder what exactly is happening in their head.   It’s fascinating.

Also the film should be of special interest as a huge thread of the film is the father’s lost job and watching him try to get a new one.   He sits with old friends in suits who also can’t find work.    As our economy starts to plunge into even darker places scenarios like this become more and more realistic.   What is missing in this scenario is a supportive and loving family that works together - making it all the more apparent that as most of us start to ride the uncharted waters of the financial crisis it more important than ever that we come together.

So go ahead and takepart to listen to an episode of This American Life about the economy, you’ll be glad you did.

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