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Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata) (2008)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 83
Fresh: 78 | Rotten: 5

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.

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Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 0

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.

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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 11,789

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Movie Info

A typical household secretly teeters on the verge of collapse in this stark drama from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Businessman Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is the principal breadwinner of a seemingly happy family in Tokyo, with Ryuhei looking after his teenage sons, Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) and Kenji (Kai Inowaki), with his wife, Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi). But what Megumi and her children don't know is that Ryuhei is out of a job; his position was outsourced to a company in China, and he's too

PG-13, 2 hr. 1 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Written By: Max Mannix, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Sachiko Tanaka

In Theaters: Mar 13, 2009 Wide

On DVD: May 4, 2010

Box Office:$0.1M

Regent Releasing

Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata) Trailer & Photos

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Cast

Teruyuki Kagawa
Ryuhei Sasaki
Ky�ko Koizumi
Megumi Sasaki
Yu Koyanagi
Taka Sasaki
Kai Inowaki
Kenji Sasaki
Haruka Igawa
Ms. Kaneko
Kanji Tsuda
Kurosu
Koji Yakusho
Housebreaker

Critic Reviews for Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata)

All Critics (83) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (79) | Rotten (5) | DVD (1)

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.

July 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Philip Kennicott

Washington Post

Top Critic

Kurosawa's first domestic drama is music to general audience's ears.

June 26, 2009 Comment

Maggie Lee

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

A 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.

June 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

| Comment

Jason Anderson

Toronto Star

Top Critic

The 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.

June 25, 2009 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

| Comments (3)

Jennie Punter

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

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

June 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Film.com

| Comment

Jonathan F. Richards

Film.com

Top Critic

A realistic social drama, but the story taps deep, cold wellsprings of dread.

May 14, 2009 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

There's a lesson in Tokyo Story. The lesson has to do with kindness and human interaction.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express

| Comment

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

A highlight of the Cannes Film Fest, Tokyo Sonata should broaden Kurosawa's appeal in the U.S.

May 7, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

A horror film of a different sort from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who made his reputation as a "J-horror" director of intelligent supernatural thrillers ...

May 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

| Comment

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Japanese horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa applies his offbeat approach to the uniquely Japanese brand of dysfunctional family comedy in this droll satire.

May 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Seanax.com

| Comment

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

Taking a break from his regular diet of fantasy and horror, Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivers here a fierce indictment of modern-day Japan.

December 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Screen International

| Comment

Dan Fainaru

Screen International

Kurosawa's relaxed pacing and lack of concern for explaining every last thing will be a welcome relief if you've wearied of blockbusters...

July 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Playback:stl

| Comment

Sarah Boslaugh

Playback:stl

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa cut his teeth on horror movies, and his flattened, formal style mines the horror in everyday urban life.

July 9, 2009 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

| Comment

Joe Williams

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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.

June 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies

| Comment

Jim Slotek

Jam! Movies

There may be no ghosts, but the Sasakis' house is as haunted as anything that Kurosawa has yet put on film.

June 22, 2009 Full Review Source: Little White Lies

| Comment

Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

The 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.

June 19, 2009 Full Review Source: Fresno Bee

| Comment

Donald Munro

Fresno Bee

No quote available.

June 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Inside Bay Area

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Inside Bay Area

While the first half of Tokyo Sonata plays like a darkish comedy, the last half is both bleaker and more emotionally engaging.

May 15, 2009 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press

| Comment

Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)

St. Paul Pioneer Press

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Audience Reviews for Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata)

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This is a very good movie, which unfortunately does not translate to being enjoyable. It follows the lives of a family - a father who has been made redundant, and is too proud to tell his wife, so leaves the house every day pretending to work, and eventually accepting a menial job as a cleaner secretly. The wife, who

July 31, 2009

Nicki Marie

Super Reviewer

"Tokyo Sonata" starts with a storm bearing down on Japan which blows all the jobs of the administration department away into China including that of its 46-year old director Ryuhei Sasaki(Teruyuki Kagawa) who packs up two shopping bags full of belongings before leaving. Eventually, he disposes of them, deciding not to

March 29, 2009

Walter M.

Super Reviewer

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