Review: 'Like Father, Like Son' Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

Japanese writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda has explored the turmoil of children separated from their loved ones in a pair of emotionally difficult films: Nobody Knows, in which a mother abandons her children suddenly; and in last year's immaculate I Wish, in which brothers are split between their divorced parents. In both occasions focus was squarely on the plight of the children, but he shifts gears with the gentle, enriching Like Father, Like Son, a film that asks the question: What does it mean to be a parent?

With his reliably controlled style, Koreeda's film explores issues of nature vs. nature with a subtle, humanistic touch. When we first meet highly-motivated engineer Ryota Nonomiya (Fukurama Masaharu), he and wife Midori (Ono Machiko) are watching their 6-year-old son Keita give all-too-perfect answers during an entrance interview at a prestigious school. We soon discover the answers were a lie, fed to him by his father to give the impression their family really is perfect. Ryota is a good man, ambitious and driven, and provides his family a life in which they want for nothing.  He drills into his son all the tools to be just like him, but one thing Ryota can't seem to find is paternal instinct. There's love in the Nonomiya family, but affection is a different story.

So when the hospital where Keita was born calls and says the son Midori gave birth to was switched with another, Ryota coldly remarks "Now it makes sense...”  It turns out their actual son Ryusei lives with Yudai and Yukari Saiki (Lily Franky and Yoko Maki), lower middle-class store owners with two other children. They live in another part of the store, and may not have everything the Nonomiya's have in terms of wealth, but they make up for it with a care-free lifestyle and a genuine closeness that is infectious.

As all of Koreeda's films note in some way, children are more resilient than adults give them credit for, and as the parents meet and come to the decision to make an exchange, the boys adapt to their surroundings with ease. The switch begins slowly with each son staying with their natural parents on weekends, and while it's meant to make things easier for the children, it's the parents who need the time most. The boys are opened up to a number of different opportunities, both professional and emotional, but for the parents it's about bonding with sons who are total strangers. Ryota sees this as an opportunity to prove that the disconnect he felt with Keita was their lack of blood relation, and seeks to fix it with Ryusei. Meanwhile, Keita has blended in seamlessly with the Saikis, enjoying the close-knit bond with his new siblings and Yudai's playfulness. These are things he's never experienced before, and seeing him acclimate so easily rubs Ryota the wrong way. He gets a half-baked notion that he can simply buy off the Saikis and keep both boys, but when they take offense it forces him to reevaluate everything. The narrative shifts its focus mainly to Ryota as he struggles to bon with Ryusei, forcing him to explore his own troubled upbringing.

Koreeda isn't a director who works in broad strokes, evolving his characters with a gentle, gradual touch. And as usual the naturalistic, instinctive performances he's able to draw out are mesmerizing, especially by the youngest stars. The film has been picked up for a remake by none other than Steven Spielberg, who perhaps should have started out with the more adventurous I Wish, and it'll be interesting to see what changes are made to make these characters relatable for American audiences. The Japanese culture is very different from ours, and Ryota's ambition at the expense of family is more normal to them. He's not a bad guy or a bad parent, but a flawed man living in a culture that values professional success nearly as much as personal.  Even though the blue-collar Saikis are portrayed as a little too perfect at times, there are no real villains to contend with. Koreeda recognizes that in situations such as this, there are no villains, just simple parents trying to do what's best for their kids. It does seem as if this point is made pretty early on, and while other important issues are raised there's a sense that the film is circling the drain.

There aren't any easy answers to the posed question, but the film suggests that being a parent requires immeasurable patience and benevolence. Vital and full of heart, Koreeda's Like Father, Like Son is another quiet jewel that shouldn't be missed.

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New Trailer and Images for Hirokazu Koreeda's 'Like Father, Like Son'

Those who have been following this site for a few years know my admiration for Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. His low-key, staggeringly authentic human dramas Nobody Knows and I Wish are personal favorites, with the latter appearing on my list of the 10 best films of 2012. He came back earlier this year at Cannes with Like Father, Like Son, and walked away with a pair of awards and the admiration of Steven Spielberg, who recently picked up the rights to produce an American remake. The original will make its way stateside long before that ever happens, and now we have a new trailer that shows why Spielberg is such a huge fan.

Another of Koreeda's deeply intimate looks at familial bonds, in particular those between parents and their children, the film follows two sets of parents who learn that the sons they gave birth to six years ago were accidentally switched at birth. An agreement is made to return the boys to their proper homes, but obviously one's emotions can't be turned on and off like a light switch. Koreeda is deftly exploring what it truly means to be a parent, and whether a blood connection can best years of emotional bonding.

Sundance Selects has yet to give Like Father, Like Son a firm U.S. release date but it will play the Middleburg Film Festival on October 25th.

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Middleburg Film Festival Announces Main Slate of Films; 'Nebraska' Leads Impressive Line-Up

There are no shortage of film festivals scattered about the DC area; from my personal favorites the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesburg and Filmfest DC, to AFI Docs and the Maryland Film Festival, but we're about to get a serious new player on the scene. Local entrepreneur and power player Sheila Johnson announced a few months ago that she was kicking off the inaugural Middleburg Film Festival this fall, and she's bringing all of her Hollywood muscle to bear to get it started on the right foot. A member of the Sundance Institute and a producer on Lee Daniels' The Butler, Johnson has gone all out to make sure the opening line-up consists of special events, major celebrity starpower, and film slate full of Oscar contenders and festival favorites.

The Opening Night festivities begin on October 24th with a showing of Alexander Payne's black & white road trip drama Nebraska, which stars Bruce Dern and Will Forte. There has already been a ton of Academy Awards talk swirling around Dern's performance in the father/son film, especially after he won Best Actor at Cannes.

The Centerpiece Film is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which has also been earning potential awards consideration for star Idris Elba as renowned freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. The October 26th screening will be followed by a musical performance by South Africa's Yvonne Chaka Chaka, as part of the festival's emphasis on film scores.

A recent addition is John Wells' star-studded adaptation of August: Osage County, based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Benedict Cumberbatch,, Sam Shepard, Ewan McGregor, and more star in the ensemble about the women of the Weston clan, who are brought back home to Oklahoma under the roof of their eccentric mother after a family crisis.

Other major films to take note of: Like Father, Like Son, the latest provocative family drama from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows, I Wish). The story follows two families who learn that their sons were accidentally switched at birth six years earlier. Steven Spielberg recently snapped up the rights to an American remake.

Stephen Frears' TIFF People's Choice Award runner-up Philomena stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and tells of a disgraced journalist who aids a woman's quest to be reunited with the child she was forced to give up in the 1950s.

Charming crowd-pleaser Le Week-End has Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan as a long-married couple who visit Paris to jumpstart their marriage. Jeff Goldblum co-stars.

The full slate of 17 films can be found here. The Middleburg Film Festival runs from Oct. 24-27, and of course we will be there.

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