Jun Ichikawa's quiet film has a power that resonates. It gives loneliness a cinematic canvas.
Tony Takitani (2005)
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:46
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Despite its deceptive wispiness, this delicately lovely and melancholy film about loneliness has a haunting power.
Theatrical Release:Jul 29, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: TONY TAKITANI is an eloquent, deftly told tale based on a short story published in The New Yorker, written by Japanese bestselling author Haruki Murakami (NORWEGIAN WOOD, KAFKA ON THE SHORE). Issey... TONY TAKITANI is an eloquent, deftly told tale based on a short story published in The New Yorker, written by Japanese bestselling author Haruki Murakami (NORWEGIAN WOOD, KAFKA ON THE SHORE). Issey Ogata stars as the title character, a simple, undemanding mechanical draftsman who lives a lonely existence. His mother died shortly after he was born, and his father (also played by Ogata) is a jazz musician who is rarely around. But when Tony meets the young and beautiful Eiko (Miyazawa Rie), he falls for her instantly, despite their 15-year age difference. Their friendship slowly develops into love, and Tony soon discovers that Eiko is a shopaholic who cannot stop buying clothing. When tragedy strikes, Tony is forced to look at his life in a whole different way. Written and directed by Jun Ichikawa (RYOMA'S WIFE, HER HUSBAND AND HER LOVER), TONY TAKITANI is told in long scenes with little or no dialogue; sometimes the characters themselves finish parts of the narration, which is delivered by Hidetoshi Nishijima at a soft, deliberate pace. The intelligent script, which is extremely faithful to Murakami's original story, is accompanied by Ryuichi Sakamoto's gorgeous, spare score and Hirokawa Taishi's stark, captivating cinematography. [More]
Starring: Issey Ogata, Miyazawa Rie, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Shinohara Takahumi
Starring: Issey Ogata, Miyazawa Rie, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Shinohara Takahumi, Shihodo Wataru, Kino Hana, Kusano Toru, Oyamada Sayuri, Tanigawa Saho
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Screenwriter: Jun Ichikawa
Producer: Ishida Motoki
Studio: Strand Releasing
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Reviews for Tony Takitani
This is the sort of film you're pretty sure you won't like, but see anyway out of vague curiosity and emerge from its spell somehow changed.
The film gestures toward our understanding of deep matters -- grief, solitude, and the process by which people build and express their very selves -- and it does so with a commendably steady, gentle hand.
Heedlessly drawn to Eiko ... Tony takes a step onto spiritually hollow ground and falls through.... That's what this kind of ironic protagonist does, from Adam on down....
This is a wisp of a film that despite its simplicity is hardly slight.
Ichikawa brilliantly captures Murakami's blend of whimsy, irony and melancholy, while finding intelligent and inventive ways to convert the author's verbal idiosyncrasies to a visual medium.
It's a film for specialized tastes, quiet, delicate. But it suits those tastes beautifully.
The movie's underlying theme is the complex relationship between objects and memories, worked out through a taut, compelling story and superbly understated acting.
Filme de construção poética e delicada, encanta pelo tocante estudo de personagens e por discutir, através de seus quadros reveladores, temas complexos como a solidão, a natureza da memória, fetiches e obsessões.
Scarcely satisfies, yet it lingers -- limpidity of image along with imperceptible epiphanies
Jun Ichikawa's slight, lovely little drama understands the pleasure of seeing, using many quiet, patient takes to absorb its delicate visuals.
Light on plot but heavy on mood, this Japanese import layers voice-over, fluid photography and a melancholy piano score to create a hypnotic poem about isolation and loss.
It's a quiet dream of a movie, a vision of loneliness giving way to love, then to loneliness again; it's like Vertigo remade in a sedately haunted style of Japanese lyricism.
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