MOVIE REVIEW: "LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" (2014) JAPANESE MOVIE

 TWO FAMILIES AND THEIR TWO YOUNG SONS WHO WERE SWITCHED AT BIRTH SIX YEARS AGO.

Now, who’s to blame? The Nurse or the Hospital’s careless management?

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” (2014)

JAPANESE MOVIE REVIEW

Touch my soul, maverick director KORE-EDA HIROKAZU implores us.

Here he is, with his new family-themed award-winning tour de force that will certainly make you sit up, take notice and reach for your hankie, provided you have a tender heart. Do you?

We all have one if we use it right. (metaphor)

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is a gem with emotional depth. It’s rare these days to get a chance to appraise a good Japanese film in the cinema.

Why?

Since the deluge of the Korean films some 10+ years ago which was an unexpected craze that seized Asia by storm, audiences worldwide these days are “hooked” to the mesmerizing Korean  dramas.

As a result, they have unceremoniously dumped their Japanese cousins.

And “LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is here to prove that the Japanese films are still very much around and have not lost their shine.

In 2013 awards keep piling in:

It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize.

It also bagged (Winner) for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Film Festival.

As well as being awarded the Audience Awards at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

The list doesn’t stop there.

 Here’s the plot:

Ryota is an arrogant architect  living in Tokyo. He is successful, hardworking and is pursuing the perfect life. But whatever bliss he is currently enjoying is just a lull before the storm.

One fateful night he and his wife,Midori, get an unexpected phone call from the hospital.

The shocking news: their young son, Keita, is not their own flesh and blood – the hospital had given them the wrong baby six years ago.

Masaharu Fukuyama plays Ryota the ambitious professional who’s married to Midori (Machiko Ono), with a perfect house and a six-year-old son.

His world is turned upside down by the shocking revelation that the hospital had accidentally switched the babies six years ago: his biological boy is now being brought up by Yudai (Franky Lily), a happy-go-lucky shopkeeper whilst Ryo has Yudai’s son.

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” has a powerful theme with an admirable cast of Japanese veterans.

 Ryota is portrayed as cold and aloof whilst Yudai is the likable good guy who enjoys frolicking with his kids.

Ryota is now in a dilemma to choose between his true blood son or the one whom he has been nurturing all these years.

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is a family movie made for everyone.

It is packaged with love, angst, frustration and the eventual stage of redemption.

It is poignant and tender, especially in scenes where the two mothers share problems regarding raising their sons.

A definite winner!

RATING: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC MOVIES