Plot
Tokyo Sonata follows the Sasakis, a middle-class family in Tokyo: Ryūhei, his wife Megumi, who is a housewife, and their two sons, late teen Takashi and middle-schooler Kenji. The four are emotionally distant from each other and rarely share anything.
Ryūhei loses his good office job after his company decides to hire Chinese workers for cheaper, and grows increasingly desperate in his attempts to find a new job. He encounters an old classmate, Kurosu, who was downsized three months earlier and, like Ryūhei, hides the truth from his family; the two bond anew over their mutual suffering, until a stunned Ryūhei learns that Kurosu and his wife committed double suicide, thought to be initiated by Kurosu.
Driven by a desire to make the world a better place, Takashi leaves Japan to join the United States military, to Ryūhei's anger and Megumi's sadness. Kenji, who feels guilt for mistakenly causing his class to disrespect their teacher, wishes to learn to play the piano, but after his father's stern refusal, starts taking lessons in secret, paying with his lunch money and practicing on a broken keyboard he found in garbage. Gradually, he develops a bond with his piano teacher, Miss Kaneko, who considers him gifted and urges him to pursue his musical ambitions. When Kenji's parents find out about the lessons, a furious Ryūhei physically abuses Kenji and accidentally pushes him down the stairs, causing him a minor concussion.
One day, Megumi, who suffers from a lack of meaningful connections with those around her and worries for Takashi's well-being, is taken hostage by an unemployed man who broke into the family house looking for money. The desperate robber forces her to drive a car he has stolen previously, but when they stop at the mall, Megumi has a chance to escape; however, after chance encounter with a distressed Ryūhei, who now works as a lowly-paid janitor and runs away from her, she returns to her captor and the two unexpectedly bond, deciding to continue their travel towards no particular destination.
That night, Kenji, Megumi and Ryūhei, and all have experiences away from home in which they confront the full extent of their existential disquiet: Kenji, who assisted in a friend's unsuccessful attempt to run away from his abusive father, tries to leave town but is caught. Unwilling to answer the questions of the police, Kenji is kept in an adult group cell overnight but is released the following day when the charges are dismissed. Megami continues her journey with the burglar until they spend the night in a wood shed by the beach. Megumi resigns to the robber's sexual advances, although he is ultimately unable to go through with the act, and she attempts to console him; however, when she spots a light on the horizon over the sea, the burglar despairs because he cannot see it. The next morning, the robber has driven the stolen car into the ocean, and Megumi returns home. Meanwhile, Ryūhei, fleeing from work after finding an envelope stuffed with cash behind one a toilet at work, is victim to a hit and run and left for dead, only to wake up the next day surprisingly healthy and abandon the cash in a lost and found box.
Kenji, Megumi and Ryūhei all return to the family house, where they share an uneventful meal without mentioning their journeys or questioning the others. Four months later, the three have seemingly accepted recent changes in their lives, with Ryūhei continuing his job as janitor; despite Japan recalling all Japanese soldiers part of the U.S. military, Takashi decided to remain in the middle east where he was stationed to continue his personal journey. The final scene depicts Kenji playing Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" flawlessly at an audition; moved to tears by his performance, his parents accompany him out as the mesmerized crowd watches them.
Reception
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, [3] while Nick Schager of Slant Magazine gave it 3 out of 4 stars. [4]
Christopher Bourne of Meniscus Magazine said, "Kurosawa's latest film, Tokyo Sonata, is his best in quite a few years, a truly frightening work that achieves its effects without resorting to tired genre mechanics." He also wrote that "Debussy's 'Clair de Lune' may well have never been put to better use in a film." [5]
Meanwhile, Tom Mes of Midnight Eye said: "Tokyo Sonata is the ultimate expression of this quality of Kurosawa's cinema. As mentioned, it contains no supernatural elements, no ghosts, killers, or monstrous flora and fauna. Yet it is without doubt the most terrifying film Kiyoshi Kurosawa has ever made. It is terrifying because it is about us." [6]
