Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi and Yû Koyanagi in "Tokyo Sonata," Regent Releasing, 2009

Many of your films are about isolated loners. Did you feel any unease or anxiety about portraying a nuclear family in "Tokyo Sonata"?

Indeed, I portrayed a nuclear family. There are two parents and two sons living in a house. You couldn’t think of a more normal Japanese setting. At the same time, each of the four family members carries their own loneliness. Each of them has secrets that bring out their alienation. That’s what I was interested in tackling.

Do you feel that there are certain things you can accomplish within genre forms that you can’t do otherwise, and vice versa?

Definitely. With horror and science fiction, I’m concerned about following certain rules. In “Tokyo Sonata,” I took four family members, and therefore four separate stories, and intertwined them without any genre parameters to follow. It was a very exciting, free-form exercise for me.

Do you think “Tokyo Sonata” is a new direction? Will your future work be less genre-oriented?

I’m excited about being free to explore new themes and new types of filmmaking. I’m not interested in making something like “Tokyo Sonata” again. I want to be able to do something I haven't done before and look for new challenges. The success I’ve had with “Tokyo Sonata” inspires me to continue this search. It’s definitely been a turning point for me.

Is it actually possible for a Japanese citizen to join the U.S. army, as the older son in “Tokyo Sonata” does?

That’s definitely fiction. There’s no system in Japan that would allow someone to join the U.S. army. However, many youngsters in Japan have expressed a hope of going to the battlefield. I think it’s unfortunate. But the fortunate part is that although they can join the self-defense forces, they won’t go to the battlefield. A lot of Japanese youth are living in illusions about war. Hopefully, I was able to tap into that in the film.

I’m interested. Because the system of filmmaking is so different between the two countries, I’d have to start off by learning the American way of making films. And it seems like a lot of trouble to me at this point. If someone would offer me the possibility of remaking one of my films my own way, as a Japanese film, I would be interested but I don’t expect it. It would be difficult, and I doubt it’s likely to happen.


“Tokyo Sonata” opens in New York on March 13th and expands on March 27th.

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Judith McNeill

Many Japanese films seem to echo the Greek tradgedies. The actor Koji Yakusho, coming away from the film, no matter how small the part, as a powerful tortured character who moves your heart with emotion, almost like a common man with King Lear's heart. No matter what part he is given he plays it superbly. I love Japanes culture and even though I cannot understand the language - all the feelings are there so the words become incidental to his brooding and sometimes tortured character. He will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Kudos to you Yakusho San and just keep giving us that handsome face of yours that only gets better with age.