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Like Father, Like Son (2013 film)
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Wikipedia article
is a 2013 Japanese psychological drama film edited, written, and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, starring Masaharu Fukuyama in his first role as a father. It premired on 18 May 2013 at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. After the screening, the audience welcomed the film with a ten-minute standing ovation, and director Kore-eda and Fukuyama were moved to tears. In a 25 May 2013 ceremony, it won the Jury Prize and a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury. The award sparked a significant response in Japan, and the national theatrical release was brought forward by a week, on 28 September 2013.
The film was also shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and won both the Rogers People's Choice Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival and the Wuaki. TV Audience Award at the 2013 San Sebastin International Film Festival.
Plot
Ryta Nonomiya is a successful architect who is focused so much on work that he neglects his wife, Midori, and son, Keita. Upon his return home one day, Midori tells him that the hospital where Keita was born urgently needs to speak to them, and Ryta senses trouble. After arriving at the hospital, the couple learns that their biological son Rysei was switched with Keita at birth, and after DNA tests prove the error, they must now make a life-changing decision to either keep Keita, the boy they raised as their own son, or exchange him for their biological son.
Ryta and Midori soon meet with the other couple, Yukari and Ydai Saiki, small town folks who lack the money and drive that Ryta possess, but who have a better understanding of the importance of child and parent bonds. They share photos, and for the first time, Ryta and Midori see their biological son, Rysei. After several meetings, they decide to exchange children for one Saturday. After several more meetings, they finally decide to exchange children permanently. All four parents have difficulty accepting the loss of their previous sons, and the absence of the parents they used to know causes both boys to shut down emotionally, culminating in Rysei running away from the Nonomiya's home and returning to the Saiki's. Ryta picks up Rysei and brings him back home.
Ryta and Midori begin to bond with Rysei, who is also warming up to them. However, while going through the photos on his camera, Ryta discovers a cache of photos of himself, mostly sleeping, that Keita took, and he breaks down crying. Ryta now understands the errors of his ways. The three return to the Saiki family, but Keita runs away from Ryta. While following him, Ryta apologizes to Keita, and the two make amends. The film ends with the two returning to the Saiki's, and both families entering the home.
Cast
*Masaharu Fukuyama as Ryta Nonomiya
*Yko Maki as Yukari Saiki
*Jun Kunimura as Kazushi Kamiyama
*Machiko Ono as Midori Nonomiya
*Kirin Kiki as Riko Ishizeki
*Isao Natsuyagi as Rysuke Nonomiya
*Lily Franky as Ydai Saiki
*Jun Fubuki as Nobuko Nonomiya
Themes and analysis
As pointed out by Nathan Southern of 'AllMovie', the film confronts two distant kinds of Japanese families coming from different social backgrounds and reflects opposing conceptions that coexist in contemporary Japanese society. These two families, as Mark Kermode notes on 'The Observer,' are faced with the dilemma of retaining the children they have raised, on the basis of the bonds built with them over six years, or swap them and start over for the sake of blood lineage continuity.
Southern emphasizes Ryta's transformation in dealing with this difficult choice: he is first convinced to make the swap, believing that the affinities with his biological son will emerge increasingly evident in the future. However, after several encounters with the Saiki family and the confrontations with Ydai, who advises him not to neglect his family life, and after discovering photographs of him shot by Keita while he was asleep, he acknowledges his emotional bond with him.
Southern recalls two key sequences of the film, commenting that "Kore-eda has a poet's eye for human nuance": in the first scene, where Ryta reviews Keita's snapshots, he remarks that Ryta "discover[s] a part of himself that he never knew existed"; in the second one, where the two families casually pose together for a group photo, he witnesses how "we can see the differences not merely between the clansone rigid and ascetic, one loose, emotionally free, and unrestrictedbut between traditional and more modern Japanese conceptions of family."
David Cirone of 'J-Generation' brings up the personal theme of balancing social norms with individual freedom, noting that Ryta is "torn between his own expectations, those of his wife and family, and the mixed suggestions of those around him who all seem to know what's best for him and the children."
Reception
Box office
In the opening weekend, the film topped the national ranking with 253,370 spectators and grossing 313.3 million. The film maintained the first position for two consecutive weeks, with 1,168,204 spectators and a box office revenue of 1.35 billion ($13.87 million in 2013) in the first 13 days, including pre-release days. It exceeded a revenue of 3 billion on 11 November, the 49th day of release, an uncommon achievement for an art film.The final domestic box office revenue reported in January 2014 was 3.2 billion ($30 million).
Critical response
'Like Father, Like Son' received mostly positive reviews. On the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval score, with an average rating of based on reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Sensitively written, smartly directed, and powerfully performed, 'Like Father, Like Son' uses familiar-seeming elements to tell a thought-provoking story." Metacritic gives the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Andrew Chan of the Film Critics Circle of Australia writes, "Essentially, 'Like Father, Like Son' is one of those rare films that keep the audience totally engaged, thoroughly profound, fully emoted and ultimately refreshing. In the scale of perfect cinema, this stands quite close." On the website of 'The American Spectator', Eve Tushnet wrote that the film "has some of the striking Kore-eda trademarks: the extraordinary acting from the children; the symmetrical framing and musical pacing; and the shifts between long shots in which all the people look tiny and child's-eye shots where all the people look huge." Andrew Schenker of 'Slant Magazine' wrote a lukewarm review, praising the cinematography but also saying, "The film scores all of its thematic points early [and] unfolds among fairly ordinary lines, hitting all of the expected moments, and simply waiting out the time until Ryota realizes the inevitable folly of his decision."
The film was the choice of Joshua Rothkopf in IndieWire's 2018 list of the best Japanese films of the 21st century.
Remake
DreamWorks Studios has acquired remake rights to 'Like Father, Like Son' after the film caught the eye of Steven Spielberg at Cannes. Chris and Paul Weitz are slated to direct.
References
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