Tokyo Sonata

Tôkyô sonata

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan, 2008

120 mins

8.6 / 10 (7483)

Drama

Synopsis

In a seemingly ordinary Japanese family, the father loses his job and conceals the truth. The eldest son in college hardly returns home. The youngest takes piano lessons without telling his parents. The mother, who knows she is supposed to keep the family together, can’t find the will to do so.

MUBI's take

If any movie changed the perception that Kiyoshi Kurosawa only excelled at horror films, this is it: a domestic drama—the hallowed realm of Ozu—but reinvented. A prizewinner at Cannes, he scored his biggest hit yet with an unusual blend of redemptive family story, dystopian dread, and deadpan humor.