Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata has a musical title and it builds—spoiler alert!!!—to a wonderful musical climax. I don’t think it’s a perfect film, and the more I watch Japanese film, the more I’m disturbed about the political direction of Japanese society. But for music lovers, an uncut performance of Debussy‘s Clair de lune, with little visual comment, makes this longish film worth its full length.
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P.S. I agree that “Tokyo Sonata” is far from a perfect film but did find a great deal to like in it. Have you seen “Departures,” too? Many people loathe it and I understand why but I enjoyed it — how about you?
I reviewed “Departures” when it made its debut in the U.S (http://philipkennicott.com/2009/06/19/japanese-weepies/). I’m in the conflicted category. I enjoyed it, and found it tremendously sentimental.