Tokyo Sonata

Of a big interest in Cannes was Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s new film Tokyo Sonata, which was screened in Un Certain Regard programme for an enthusiastic audience. The film continues the quintessential family satire genre, which was started by Yoshimitsu Morita with his Family Game in 1983. In Kurosawa’s fi lm, a company out-sources father’s job to China, after which he pretends going to work every day. Meanwhile, his equally appearances only matter -inclined wife concentrates on keeping the house neat, and the two sons go their own way. Kurosawa (no family relation to Akira Kurosawa), who became famous as one of the founders of the J-horror boom, has here gone back to his less-known interest in family relations, memorably treated in his 1998 film Licence to Live.
– EIJA NISKANEN, NIPPON NEWS