It was Hirokazu from the calm and cruel "Phantom Light" and "Nobody Knows", to "Next Stop, Heaven" and "Air Puppet", which confronted reality with whimsical ideas, to the unpretentious "Non-Stop Walking", It's not that these works are better than "Father Like Son". These works may be over-technical or immature, but I have the impression that Hirokazu Ke is a screenwriter/director with a problematic sense of worldly human relationships. The so-called problem awareness does not mean that a director can answer a question from his own standpoint after asking it, but to let the question persist throughout the work until the end. His previous works, even in propositional compositions such as "Miracle", did not give realistic answers. Although the children gave themselves through experience, they returned to the original point without any change in reality. In contrast, in "Father Like Son", the protagonist Nonomiya Yada's attitude of thinking that money can solve all problems emerges, and the audience has already made a judgment and can guess the direction of the movie. That is to say, the problem is actually solved as soon as it is raised. The director presupposes moral judgment. At this point, I am quite disappointed.
For me, the two details of this script that touched me the most (not the kind of incitement to cry). One was that before Keita was sent away, he asked his father if he still had to play the piano when he arrived at the Zaim house. This child was educated since childhood. He knows how to restrain himself, and he obviously doesn't like it, but because it is his father who entrusts him with the task, he pays special attention to it, which shows the power of his father in his heart. This line really says very little but expresses too much. The other is the reason why the children were swapped. Some people think that it’s bloody, but I think it’s the only surprise in the whole show. When the protagonists are entangled in the established moral framework, only here is a glimpse of the unintentional and uncontrolled evil, just like the mother in "Non-stop" said quietly not to punish the rescued Man himself cannot be freed from the death of his son who drowned to save him. Originally, peeking into such evil was a way for Hirokazu Ke to keep a little distance from the warmth of the world. It is Kee Hiroka who loves to talk about the "dead knot" in interpersonal relationships, the void and alienation left by the sudden disappearance of those close relatives, and the sense of distance between those who are not very close who want to get rid of and forget but cannot go beyond. In this way, "As Father Like Son" does not deviate from his usual theme, but allows the audience to see the way this knot can be untied from the very beginning, which is too easy to untie.
Of course, if you put down your critical mind and just want to see cute little kids, who are moved to cry by the delicate family scenes in the dark, and welcome the warm and happy ending, this film is still highly recommended.
ps The two heroines are Ono Machiko and Maki Yoko in "The Perfect Divorce", and Maki Yoko's image of a rational carnivorous girl has hardly changed. If you want to see what it's like to be a mother in Uehara, please don't miss this movie.
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