Would You Adopt Your Own Child That Was Raised By Someone Else?
Hirokazu Koreeda has been regularly showcasing his films at top festivals at least ever since Nobody Knows (2004) earned best actor award in Cannes for the terrific Yūya Yagira. Koreeda’s subtle family dramas (Nobody Knows, his best film, is based on a true story referred aptly in Wikipedia as the “Affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo”) have been consistently excellent throughout the last decade. Still Walking (2008) and I Wish (2011) both premiered in Toronto, and his latest competed again for Palme d’Or.
His films often pick the viewpoint of the children, and he manages to pull out remarkably convincing performances from the young actors. There might be more memorable performances from child actors in world cinema, but I can’t think of another filmmaker who has made child performances again and again look so natural.
Koreeda’s latest film Like Father, Like Son (2013) won minor awards at the 2013 Cannes film festival and the Jury president Steven Spielberg bought rights to remake it. It’s a story of two families whose babies have been accidentally switched in the hospital, but they only find out about it six years later. The story is inspired from a real life mixup concerning multiple families that happened in Japan four decades ago.
Koreeda covers smoothly his topic that centers around nature vs. nurture arguments and the differences between the two different families. However there are few real surprises in the film, and it feels more like an exciting concect that isn’t entirely fleshed out. It’s a very enjoyable movie, but fans of his prior work shouldn’t set their hopes up too high.
Like Father, Like Son is told more from the parents’ side, and their different reactions to adapting and adopting their biological offspring. My initial reaction from Cannes sums it all up rather well:
I Wish and Nobody Knows are available on US Netflix, and Like Father, Like Son opens the Asian Film Festival in Helsinki tomorrow. Personally I’m looking very much forward to Stray Dogs by the Taiwanese Tsai Ming-liang, whose trancelike long shots are bit of an acquired taste, but work wonders for those who are willing to settle in.
