In the opening scene a young 6 year-old boy is sitting upright in a low chair spaced away from his parents who are either side of him. All three are dressed formally in black and are facing two officials behind a desk in this stark room who are firing questions at the boy. It’s all very intimidating but he answers back rapidly without a hint of emotion. It turns out that he’s being interviewed to for admission to a much sought after private school, and he had been tutored to provide the correct responses that would give an impression that he is part of a perfect Japanese family. Ryota his father, is a highly successful architect who, as a workaholic, is rarely around to share much time with his son. His mousy mother who, after having a tough time giving birth to him was unable to have any more children, devotes her whole life to him, and being subservient to her husband too. The family live in an expensive glass tower block in the city center and it is decorated and minimally furnished in a cold orderly fashion just like their lives. Asides from the fact that Ryota is unable to succeed in filling his easy-going son Keita with his own totally focused ambition, they are to all intents and purposes, a happy family in their own way.
However, a phone call one day from the hospital Keita was born soon puts an end to all that. For a reason that will be revealed later, there was a mix-up between the babies born that day and they are now told that he is not in fact their biological son. The embarrassed authorities hastily arrange a meeting with the other couple who have been raising their son, and who are clearly the other end of the social scale. Yodal runs a small messy Appliance Store and to help make ends meet his wife Yukari works part time in a fast food Noodle Bar. Their son Ryusei is the oldest of three children and they all live together, with Yodal’s elderly father too, in a cramped tiny apartment above the store. It is obvious though that the children adore Yodal who prefers to devote most of his time playing with them rather than working in the store.
When they first meet Yodal seems preoccupied with suing the hospital authorities to get as much financial remuneration in damages as possible, and although Ryoto agrees with him in public, he has a totally different agenda in mind. It is obvious that at some time the families must effect a swap to get their own children back, but as there is no precedent on how this should happen, they agree to get to know their birth child first.
After some months pass by and it is obvious that either of the mothers can or want to make the decision, it’s up to the men to agree that they should in fact have their own sons back. It’s something no-one seems to want to do especially the children who are completely unhappy in their new homes. Ryoto is threatened by the disorder of having a son that he cannot manipulate and shape into as a carbon copy of himself, and Ryusei is miserable living in such a cold clinical environment. Keieta on the other hand although initially yearns for his mother, is soon won over by all the warmth and laughter of his happy new family. In a plot which is completely impossible to predict, writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda keeps adding nuances so that neither of the families scenarios are exactly what they initially appeared to be. Ryoto is still dealing with unresolved issues from his childhood when his father left his young mother and he ran away from home and was dragged back to be brought up reluctantly by his step mother. The initial impression of Yodal being a money-grabber who simply wants to exploit the situation for his own means is soon dissipated when one realises what a devoted and wonderfully generous parent he is.
This swapped-at-birth is a well trodden theme (think ‘The Other Son’ in 2012) but what makes it work so beautifully here is the subtlety of the story and how in such a respectful and well-mannered culture such as this, the anguish of the parents in particular manifests itself in a controlled fashion without the obvious histrionics. Its superbly acted too, particularly by the two very young boys who are tugging at your emotions ever second of the 2 hours.
A compelling spell-binding movie that quite rightly won Mr. Kore-eda the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and it just maybe make you go back and look at your parents to see if you were given to the right ones too.
★★★★★★★★★
