Our take
Like Someone in Love is a Japanese drama about identity and finding comfort. It tells the story of a young woman, Akiko, who leads two different lives, one she shares with her family and another which few know about. The movie opens in a restaurant where Akiko is hanging out with her friend, just as a man is trying to get her to leave, insisting that there is a really important “customer” she has to meet. Long taxi rides and Tokyo neon lights will accompany you as the story unfolds. One of the movie’s most evocative sequences involves Akiko seated in the backseat of a cab, listening to her grandmother’s voicemails. Using very little dialogue, Like Someone in Love is a simple movie that captures loneliness, regret, and sorrow brilliantly as it depicts a woman and a man who are only trying to give and receive comfort from each other.
What it won
Cannes
1 nom
The story
An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.
Elsewhere
"The many trips through Tokyo, filmed incisively from moving vehicles, infuse the rich texture of the city with a startling emotional intensity and a sense of teeming ambient drama ..."
— Richard Brody
"A major statement from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers."
— Andrew Schenker
The details
Who picked it
Oppie A is a contributing writer at A Good Movie to Watch, reviewing films and shows across the major streaming services.
