Review of Tokyo Sonata (2008) by Christopher B — 26 Aug 2009

Brilliant! Kurosawa sets up his film as a somewhat typical family drama, with a lot of tension about an unhappy family becoming even unhappier, then... well it becomes a Kurosawa film. It seems that this is an expansion of his previous film, Doppelganger, which plays with conventions in a way that may leave some audience scratching their noggins, but to others it's absolutely thrilling. And it's not like Tarrintino, throwing vampires into a gangster film (not bad mouthing From Dusk til Dawn. Great film), but a lot more organic. Just not predictable.

I've always dug Kurosawa, though I worry about his determination not to be pigeonholed as a horror director. I feared this was going to be his For Love of the Game, where he casually spits on his previous work and makes something much more palatable. Not to worry. This is pure Kiyoshi all the way. It also reminds me of 2 other of my favourite Japanese family dramas, Miike's awesome Visitor Q an Happiness of the Katakuris. Highly recommended.