The tune of Tokyo Sonata.By Ed Rampell
One of this year’s best offerings is director/co-writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s (no relation to Akira Kurosawa) Tokyo Sonata, an offbeat, droll look at the Sasakis, a dysfunctional Japanese family. Sonata’s rollicking plot takes many unexpected twists and turns, some quite hilarious. The film wickedly observes the plight of Japanese salary men who need to save face, even as they are hit by downsizing; not-so-blissful domestic bliss; women’s liberation; unruly children; and the need of artists to express themselves. This quirky, well-directed drama starring Inowaki Kai, Teruyaki Tagawa, Kyoka Koizumi and Yu Koaynagi as, respectively, Kenji, Ryuhei, Megumi and Taka Sasaki also manages to comment on the Iraq War.
