Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata) (2009)
82%RT Audience Score: 68%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 9 nominations
J-Horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa turns successfully to dramedy and gives a unique (and specifically national) perspective to the universal subjects of family and identity
Tokyo Sonata is a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and question your own life choices. Kurosawa’s direction is spot on, and the cinematography is breathtaking. The story is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and the characters are so well-developed that you’ll feel like you know them personally. It’s a must-watch for anyone who loves a good family drama, and even if you don’t, you’ll still be blown away by this masterpiece. Plus, the ending is so beautiful that you’ll be thinking about it for days.
Production Company(ies)
Mandeville Films, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
Regent Releasing
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Ebisu, Tokyo, Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language
Year of Release
2008
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby SR
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 59m
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Language(s):Japanese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 13, 2009 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 4, 2010
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Kai Inowaki, Haruka Igawa, Yû Koyanagi, Jason Gray, Koji Yakusho, Isao Natsuyagi, Kanji Tsuda, Takashi Sasano, Nene Otsuka, Megumi Kagurazaka, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, written by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka, drama, PG-13, box office gross $277.3K, Regent Releasing, Wouter Barendrecht, Yukie Kito produced, reviewed by Genevieve Yue, Joshua Rothkopf, Mark Peranson, Philip Kennicott, Joe Williams, Maggie Lee, Anton Bitel, Dustin Chang, Panos Kotzathanasis, Mattie Lucas, Ian Buruma, family, identity, financial crisis, Japan, Tokyo, Ryûhei Sasaki, Megumi Sasaki, Kenji Sasaki, Ms Kaneko, Taka Sasaki, American Soldier, employment office, outsourcing, trust, marriage, thematic elements, brief strong language, Japanese, 1h 59m
Worldwide gross: $943,547
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,299,700
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,532
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 141,734
US/Canada gross: $278,356
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $383,425
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,395
US/Canada opening weekend: $28,345
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $39,044
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,276
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $2,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $3,443,654
Production budget ranking: 1,963
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,854,408
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$3,998,362
ROI to date (est.): -75%
ROI ranking: 1,849
Kyôko Koizumi – Megumi Sasaki
Kai Inowaki – Kenji Sasaki
Haruka Igawa – Ms. Kaneko
Yû Koyanagi – Taka Sasaki
Jason Gray – American Soldier
Director(s)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer(s)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka
Producer(s)
Wouter Barendrecht, Yukie Kito
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 9 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (90) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (85) | Rotten (5)
[H]ere, perhaps more urgently than ever before, it’s about what happens when people confront the world outside, and what new, fragile connections they might begin to forge.
October 20, 2014
Genevieve Yue
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The movie slides into a kind of bizarre hyperreality that makes its desperation slightly hallucinatory but, paradoxically, more moving.
November 17, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Though far from flawless, it’s an adventurous work that is both disturbing and ultimately moving.
September 14, 2010 | Rating: 3/4
Mark Peranson
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
Kurosawa is the rare director who simply lets his film dissolve into music, allowing the plot to take the film naturally to a musical conclusion.
July 17, 2009
Philip Kennicott
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa cut his teeth on horror movies, and his flattened, formal style mines the horror in everyday urban life.
July 9, 2009 | Rating: 3/4
Joe Williams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
Kurosawa’s first domestic drama is music to general audience’s ears.
June 26, 2009
Maggie Lee
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
It may be a departure from his recent forays into J-horror, but in this family drama and allegory of contemporary Japanese anxieties, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is still rocking a haunted house.
January 16, 2022
Anton Bitel
Projected Figures
Kurosawa manages to hover right above all the stereotypical situations and makes it work with great editing, sound and intimate cinematography(by Akiko Ashizawa). And one of the most beautiful endings I’ve seen in movies in years.
March 24, 2021
Dustin Chang
Floating World
Using utter realism, Kurosawa presents the hardships a family faces in the middle of the financial crisis, similar to the same bitter truth Sam Mendes showed in “American Beauty”.
April 13, 2020
Panos Kotzathanasis
Asian Movie Pulse
Given the current economic situation in America, the themes of Tokyo Sonata resonate even more.
June 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
Kurosawa’s film tells us a great deal about contemporary Japan without being overtly political.
August 29, 2018
Ian Buruma
The New York Review of Books
A film that effectively examines both the familial conflicts in Japan’s transitioning society and the wondrous avenues each individual within the family explores.
September 29, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/5
Derek Smith
Tiny Mix Tapes…
Plot
The wind of change is blowing as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it is just the beginning of a series of family shattering incidents leading to the implosion of the family unit.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Tokyo Sonata.
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