It’s an interesting aesthetic experiment that is only half successful.
Tony Takitani (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:46
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Despite its deceptive wispiness, this delicately lovely and melancholy film about loneliness has a haunting power.
Theatrical Release:21-04-2006
Synopsis: TONY TAKITANI is an eloquent, deftly told tale based on a short story published in The New Yorker, written by Japanese bestselling author Haruki Murakami (NORWEGIAN WOOD, KAFKA ON THE SHORE). Issey... TONY TAKITANI is an eloquent, deftly told tale based on a short story published in The New Yorker, written by Japanese bestselling author Haruki Murakami (NORWEGIAN WOOD, KAFKA ON THE SHORE). Issey Ogata stars as the title character, a simple, undemanding mechanical draftsman who lives a lonely existence. His mother died shortly after he was born, and his father (also played by Ogata) is a jazz musician who is rarely around. But when Tony meets the young and beautiful Eiko (Miyazawa Rie), he falls for her instantly, despite their 15-year age difference. Their friendship slowly develops into love, and Tony soon discovers that Eiko is a shopaholic who cannot stop buying clothing. When tragedy strikes, Tony is forced to look at his life in a whole different way. Written and directed by Jun Ichikawa (RYOMA'S WIFE, HER HUSBAND AND HER LOVER), TONY TAKITANI is told in long scenes with little or no dialogue; sometimes the characters themselves finish parts of the narration, which is delivered by Hidetoshi Nishijima at a soft, deliberate pace. The intelligent script, which is extremely faithful to Murakami's original story, is accompanied by Ryuichi Sakamoto's gorgeous, spare score and Hirokawa Taishi's stark, captivating cinematography. [More]
Starring: Issey Ogata, Miyazawa Rie, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Shinohara Takahumi
Starring: Issey Ogata, Miyazawa Rie, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Shinohara Takahumi, Shihodo Wataru, Kino Hana, Kusano Toru, Oyamada Sayuri, Tanigawa Saho
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Screenwriter: Jun Ichikawa
Producer: Ishida Motoki
Studio: Strand Releasing
Reviews for Tony Takitani
This is a wisp of a film that despite its simplicity is hardly slight.
Tony Takitani runs only about 75 minutes but is so well and deftly crafted that it couldn’t be a minute more…or less.
...unmistakably an art piece and as Japanese as a Japanese garden...the movie itself seems like an obsession.
It's a quiet dream of a movie, a vision of loneliness giving way to love, then to loneliness again; it's like Vertigo remade in a sedately haunted style of Japanese lyricism.
This lovely and piercingly sad film is rooted in a free-floating malaise that's endemic to fast-paced, materially oriented cultures throughout the industrialized, urban world.
The camera effortlessly glides from scene to scene, revealing faultlessly framed shots that consist mostly of just one or two people, their backs often to the camera.
Light on plot but heavy on mood, this Japanese import layers voice-over, fluid photography and a melancholy piano score to create a hypnotic poem about isolation and loss.
The movie's underlying theme is the complex relationship between objects and memories, worked out through a taut, compelling story and superbly understated acting.
A haunting and exquisitely composed ode to the cellblocks that people build for themselves: prisons of loneliness and dependency, routine and material substitutes.
Tony Takitani conveys a powerfully tangible sense of loss and loneliness. In both concrete and existential terms, it's a film that dwells on what the dead leave behind and how the living carry on.
Jun Ichikawa's quiet film has a power that resonates. It gives loneliness a cinematic canvas.
An aesthetically appealing anatomy of loneliness and aloneness by a Japanese filmmaker with a keen eye for the nuances of human nature.
Jun Ichikawa's film is a classic example that not all literature is capable of making the transition to film...
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December 13, 2005:
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