Koreeda’s troubled childhood often serves as the inspiration for his poignant Japanese dramas that deal with loss, the meaning of being a child, and of being parent. In Like Father, Like Son, Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama), a hard-working architect, who is married to his work, comes home from work. He receives a call from the hospital where his son Keita was born and learns that he was switched at birth with their biological son Ryūsei. His wife and him are not only faced with the prospect of having to switch the two six-year-olds back, but also with the rickety family his ‘real’ son grew up in—and his aversion to what they stand for. But who is real and who isn’t? Must they be switched back? The age-old question of nature vs. nurture and the relationship of love and biology is at the heart of the parent’s struggle. As always with Koreeda’s works, the result is soft-spoken, sensitive, and symphonically directed. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes.
"What stays with you ... is the unlikely shadow of loss, not least in the hearts of the boys' mothers: how can a loving child, even the "wrong" one, be let go?"
— Anthony Lane
"While not to be confused with the 1987 Dudley Moore body-swap comedy, Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest drama also undertakes its own kind of identity experiment, one that organically grows into something altogether more poignant"
— Nicolas Rapold
Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Other
1 nomination
V Japanese, great acting and really good camera work. A nice introduction to Hirokazu Koreeda, and if you like it you’re sure to love his latest, After the Storm.