Like Father,
Like Son
A film by
Hirokazu Koreeda
2013 / Japan / 121 mins
5.45pm/Peks Mini Theater
In
contemporary Japan, the echoes of old Japanese gender culture lingers like a
ghost, with the added layers of corporate pressure, sometime self imposed. But
Hirokazu Kore-eda's focus here is on the theme of fatherhood, coupled with the
theme of parenthood as a biological or nurturing drive.
The film
begins with a clean palate, straight lines, neat apartment and absence of chaos
as the Nonomaya nuclear family skates through life, balanced on the edge of
workaholism. Ryota Nonomya (Masaharu Fukuyama) is a talented architect with a
large firm, his wife Midori (Machiko Ono) in captivity as the mother at home,
their 6 year old son Keita (Keita Ninomya) content in the safety of their
comforts.
We meet that
other family, the Saikis, a happily disheveled shopkeeper (a devoted father)
and his take away food shop waitress wife. They have three kids, the 6 year old
Ryusei (Shogen Hwang) the eldest. This movie deals with an important settlement happening between these two families.
The contrast between the families' lifestyles and paternal attitudes plays on
the dilemma facing them. Sensitively performed and directed, Like Father, Like
Son is a series of acutely observed insights into its themes and its social
setting, as well as a close study of human nature faced with some complex
issues that go to the heart of our natural genetic urges.
The film won
the Cannes Jury Prize and was nominated for Best Picture by the Japanese
Academy, among a raft of awards and nominations including several from the Asia
Pacific Screen Awards held on the Gold Coast.
(Source:
Internet)
Hirokazu
Koreeda
Japanese
auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda was born in Tokyo in 1962. Originally intended to be a
novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University in 1987 went on to become
an assistant director at TV Man Union. Sneaked off set to film Lessons from a
Calf (1991) is first feature, Maboroshi no hikari (1995), based on a Teru
Miyamoto novel and drawn from his own experiences whilst filming _August
Without Him (1994), won jury prizes at Venice and Chicago. The main themes of
his oeuvre include memory and loss, death and loss, and the intersection of
documentary and fictional narratives.
In a short
period of time, Hirozaku Koreeda has gained a solid reputation as one of the
most significant figures of contemporary Japanese cinema. His oeuvre is
currently comprised of eight films including his television documentary work
with TV Man Union, Inc. and his narrative films (After Life, Maborosi) which
reflect the contemplative style and pacing of such luminaries as Hou
Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. He has become a cinematographic tightrope
walker who almost unnoticeably switches between fictitious and real
territories, between narration and invention, the private and the public.
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