Like Father, Like Son, the new film by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life, Nobody Knows, I Wish), the winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, is first and foremost a sensitive family drama about, precisely, the meaning of the word family. More exactly, about what a son’s identity implies for a father. And about how, for a mother, the same thing does not necessarily entail the same concerns. Like Father, Like Son is a thoughtful character study that poses complex queries regarding family ties, blood lines, and ethics. And, of course, love.
Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama) is a thriving middle-upper class businessman who has worked hard to earn what he owns; he’s the kind of man who feels nothing is impossible. His wife Midori (Machiko Ono) is a housewife pretty much devoted to raising their 6-year-old son Keita (Keita Ninomiya), who’s about to enter elementary school. Whereas Ryota is too critical of basically everything and finds Keita not to be as smart and resourceful as he’d want him to be, Midori is far more relaxed and accepts their son right the way he is. Perhaps it’s just that she is the type of person who’s very much in touch with her emotions, whereas Ryota is more of a cerebral type who keeps his feelings at a safe distance. Nevertheless, these two very different parents do really love Keita in their own different ways.
Which explains why their family life is almost shattered to pieces when they receive an unexpected phone call from the hospital where their son was born. It so happens that Keita is not their biological son: the hospital switched him for another baby by mistake. So Ryusei (Shogen Hwang), their “real son,” has been inadvertently raised by a middle-lower class couple, shopkeeper Yudai Saiki (Riri Furanki) and his wife Yukari (Yoko Maki), as their own.
Without actually truly explaining the situation to the kids, the two families start a trial system of exchanging them on weekends. After some six months, they are to choose between “nature” and “nurture.” The thing is that at first Ryota attempts to buy off the Saikis so that he gets custody of both Keita and Ryusei, but when the plan doesn’t go through, Ryota follows his father’s advice: bloodline counts more.
What strikes you first the most is how Hirokazu Kore-eda smoothly and accurately draws an observational character study focused on the father, allowing you to get into the drama without ever being told what to feel, think or conclude. The filmmaker’s strategy is simple and mesmerizing at once: to provide intimate details about everyday dynamics, as opposed to big meanings or extensive and explanatory dialogue, as to draw a slowly changing portrayal of what the characters feel, think, and say. Since Ryota is at odds with life-changing decisions, and deep down is unsure about what road to take, viewers are prompted to share the same uncertainty and uneasiness.
In contrast, Midori seems to deal with the entire matter in a far more down-to-earth and emotional approach: to her, “nurture” may certainly be everything, which doesn’t mean at all she doesn’t care for her biological son. But the thought of actually “abandoning” Keita is too harsh to even consider the possibility of exchanging the kids for good. Yet it’s not only what she feels what counts. This is, after all, a family matter.
So as you share some information on how these people are, and perhaps even why they are who they are, an ongoing sense of discovery and revelation is firmly established throughout the many layers of the narrative. While far from melodrama fare, Like Father, Like Son is not an icy and aloof film either. In fact, it’s gentle and filled with sentiment, but not in a volatile manner — which makes sense, since a good deal of the story is told from the point of view of Ryota, who’s also the film’s most complex and elusive character.
With the already typically refined yet austere cinematography Hirokazu Kore-eda is rightfully celebrated for — which enhances the presence and importance of the characters in relationship to their surroundings — Like Father, Like Son is also an enthralling aesthetic experience firmly rooted in the heart of the drama, rather than in the beauty of images per se. Also never a talkative film, but one where silences are eloquent and few words are often more than enough to express what’s underlying what you can see at first glance.
Production notes
Like Father, Like Son (Japan, 2013). Written, directed and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. With Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Lily Franky, Yoko Maki, Keita Ninomiya, Hwang Sho-gen. Cinematography by Mikiya Takimoto. Running time: 121 minutes.
