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RATING:   
SINGAPORE : Poignant social satire is the last thing you would expect from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who is better known for his supernatural efforts such as "Pulse" and "Séance". But with "Tokyo Sonata", the Cannes Jury Prize winner, Kurosawa is more than economically current and quirkily effective.
A salaryman's (Teruyuki Kagawa) life starts to unravel after he unexpectedly gets laid off from his administrative job at a medical supply firm.
Of course, Dad doesn't tell anyone, filling his days in line at the unemployment office and local soup kitchen while on the pretence of being at work.
Mum (Kyoko Koizumi) tries her hardest to hold things together with well-practised equanimity, while one son (Yu Koyanagi) joins the American military, and the other (Kai Inowaki) is afraid to tell anyone he's taking piano lessons.
Low-key but strong and sensitive, the dark comedy teeters on the verge of unnerving depression until it takes a surreal twist in the final act.
Unexpected but welcomingly inspired, it is here that the family's misfortunes truly become existential.
The almost absurd slapstick melodrama and heartbreaking finale not only highlights the film's social criticism, but takes it to a whole other eccentric but effective level.
- TODAY/rs
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