Tokyo Sonata (2008)

Tokyo Sonata is not the only film to tell a story about a man who cannot bear to tell his family about having been made redundant. But Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film doesn't really limit itself to that theme. Not only the man's world is falling apart, his entire family is shattered, each family member dealing with demons of his/her own. For the first hour, this works really well. The film quietly registers the twists and turns of ordinary life. Then: the Revelation. A series of unexpected events take place and I must say that the film could no longer engage me at that point. In the first part of the film there are, however, a number of strong and sombre scenes that manage to represent humiliation without one hint of sentimentality. - But what is lacking here is perspective: we never get a deeper perspective on how to understand work and non-work and what kind of reaction humiliation is. For this reason, there are some scenes that I can't really get my head around. Ryuhei, the man who was rendered redundant in the beginning of the film, finally gets a cleaning job. We are led to believe that this job is not only hard, but humiliating, so humiliating that when his wife, ignorant about her husband's new occupation, happens to catch a glimpse of him at this new job, she is repelled by his degradation. Or is this what is going on? As I said, the film contains a number of unnecessary plot: the man's older son decides to enlist in the American army; the younger son rebels against his father in taking piano lessons; the wife is taken hostage by a robber... Had it been more focused on what appears to be the main theme (un/employment), I suppose Tokyo Sonata would have been a far less confusing film. Or maybe I just didn't get the point? - Still, this film is interesting and at times breathtakingly beautiful.