Kurosawa is the rare director who simply lets his film dissolve into music, allowing the plot to take the film naturally to a musical conclusion.
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07/17/09
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Tokyo Sonata (2009)
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:70
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.3/10
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.
Theatrical Release:Mar 13, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $103,045
Synopsis: Best known in the United States for bizarre and unsettling horror films like PULSE and CURE, Kiyoshi Kurosawa ventures away from that category with TOKYO SONATA. Of course, Kurosawa is incapable of... [More]
Starring: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Haruka Igawa, Yu Koyanagi
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Reviews for Tokyo Sonata
Top CriticKurosawa's relaxed pacing and lack of concern for explaining every last thing will be a welcome relief if you've wearied of blockbusters...
07/10/09
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa cut his teeth on horror movies, and his flattened, formal style mines the horror in everyday urban life.
07/09/09
Kagawa does the heavy dramatic lifting in Tokyo Sonata, convincingly portraying a good man flailing against reality. But Koizumi is similarly effective, and the brooding child actor Kai is also top-notch.
06/26/09
Kurosawa's first domestic drama is music to general audience's ears.
06/26/09
Top CriticA skilful and continually surprising drama, Tokyo Sonata depicts the gradual deterioration of an ordinary Japanese family after its breadwinner loses his job owing to corporate downsizing.
06/26/09
Top CriticThe film transcends conventions of genre and cultural boundaries, and turns out to be one of the most compelling, finely orchestrated and oddly enchanting films of the year so far.
06/25/09
Top CriticThe film in many ways is the bleakest indictment of contemporary Japanese culture I've seen. Yet it also functions as dark comedy, fierce character study and uplifting tale of redemption.
06/19/09
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to the master) is best known for his up-market horror films (Cure, Retribution, and many others.) Here he is dealing with a horror of a different sort: the meltdown of the Japanese economy and the collapse of the soc
06/13/09
Top CriticNo quote available.
06/12/09
While the first half of Tokyo Sonata plays like a darkish comedy, the last half is both bleaker and more emotionally engaging.
05/15/09
A realistic social drama, but the story taps deep, cold wellsprings of dread.
05/14/09
Top CriticTokyo Sonata, in so many senses, is about an allergic reaction to the very idea of what it means to be Japanese. The characters misplace their belief in etiquette, politesse, dignity, and propriety -- or they struggle to maintain it.
05/07/09
Top CriticAlthough Kurosawa is able to balance tones ranging from humor to unexpected domestic violence, his fantastical transition comes a wee bit left of field, requiring his audience to regain their equilibrium.
05/01/09
An extraordinary work in three movements about the Sasakis, a seemingly ordinary family. In this unpredictable work, the clan implodes, explodes, and glues itself back together.
05/01/09
Top CriticTokyo Sonata is Kurosawa allowed at last to make a horror film that reveals that, for him, true horror is being content to accept salvation in the life of a sheep.
05/01/09
Kurosawa effectively depicts the present world financial crisis with his microcosmic analysis of the Sasaki family.
05/01/09
It is not a bad movie at all, nor is it graceful.
04/23/09
Kiyoshi Kurosawa switches gears from supernatural horror to poignant social satire.
04/17/09
Top Critic"Tokyo Sonata" is partly brilliant and partly melodramatic soap opera.
04/14/09
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