Tokyo Sonata

A family rotted inside out but still full of passion and love, its misguided by cultural structures and the capitalistic tendencies tied to it.

I think in a lot of area's kiyoshi kurosawa's lack of anything resembling a score helps as the music is all but everything inside the house.
I mean it does have some music pieces in there but mostly it remains consistent with kiyoshi's filmography.
It flows well like a piano piece all the while everything in it is crumbling yet can be saved by the remaining passion and it does.

Its familiarities with my experiences is why its my favorite kiyoshi film. While cure is one of the greatest horror films in its manipulation, dread and staging of violence....to me tokyo sonata remains more scary due to the nature of family structures and the resistence when someone breaks it. Its a familiar concept but kiyoshi does it oh so well and i see my family and me in this.
My family can be saved but the qeustion is if they take that path.

(Watch my filmography: https://boxd.it/2A45h )

Tokyo Sonata2008

00

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relatable in the worst ways possible.

that moment when you realize the family you once knew is not the same and is slowly breaking into pieces.
ryuhei is a clasic archetype of the hard working man of the family but when he loses his job, everything crumbles as his authority begins to vanish. ryuhei is bound by this need for masculine dominance in his house and the larger world as well.
it leaves him angry and the only one to take that out on is his family.
he wants to protect them so bad that he not only doesn't do that but only drives them further away which creates disconnect.

his wife megumi is in the middle of this, she is also get tired. at one point in the film she gets kidnapped by a stranger but finds comfort in that encounter, they both feel like failures, they struggle with the situation and life they find themselves in.

kenji is the youngest son in the family, he aspires to play piano but he is not able to because of his dad but that only causes a wall between them because ryuhei doesn't want him to play piano for silly and dumb reasons like to maintain his iron fist in the house which only creates pain for everyone. in a way, i see it as a queer and trans allegory.
when it comes to being trans or gay, nothing is more terrifying then family and even more so what their reactions and ideas are but most of them fail to understand that waiting, ignoring or simply rejecting it all together only creates pain, isolation and suffering for everyone but just like ryuhei, most parents and family members don't realize that but only when you allow to breakthrough and let your child do what they want and be who they wanna be, you can finally then break that wall.
the need for societal integration and fears of those parents fuel this as well but its a misguided attempt at safety.

takashi is the oldest son who appears in a few scenes before going off and fight in the militairy only to come back home and then back to another country, realizing how he actually should find happiness.
here i come with that queer and trans allegory again but it fits so well, takashi represents that need to find out what makes you happy, who your people are and what it means to be happy.
the feeling of what makes you happy clashing with what your parents want is a timeless concept and tokyo sonata uses it perfectly.
queer and trans people should not be bound by parental expectations but rarely ever get to be free of those expectations.
i relate to both of the sons, i want my family to be happy with me but i also don't want to be stuck in their expectations, fears and misguided safety.

in the film, the last scene is ryuhei and megumi seeing their son finally play piano and then they finally realize what their son can do and not what society deems valuable which is beautifull.
kiyoshi shows the messed up, flawed but ultimately wonder of being family is. his camera is excellent at always showing the right angle and his dialogue in here is masterfull. everyone gives a powerhouse of a performance.

Tokyo Sonata2008

00

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