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Simply A Masterpiece

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is a story about a baby mix-up and two families which are at the mercy of the fact. Ryota Nonomiya is an excellent businessman but also a cold father who entrusts the care of his son, Keita, to his wife, Midori. After Keita passes an examination of a private elementary school, the hospital where Keita was born at let Ryota know the fact that Keita isn't his real son. Ryota and Midori meet the real parent of Keita, Mr. and Mrs. Saiki. After that, they start to exchange their real sons and to suffer anxiety.Ryota and Mr. Saiki, these two fathers are completely different in respect of how they show their love for children. I don't think that Ryota doesn't love his son because he makes Keita take a test of a private elementary school with wishing his son well. In addition, he earns much money and offers Midori and Keita a rich life. On the other hand, Mr. Saiki considers the time with his children important but he is a person with a low income. Which father is better father? The judgment will depend on who the person is. However, I think that Mr. Saiki is better father because he pours out his affection on his children directly. To think with the viewpoint of children in mind, I think children are happy if their father pours out his affection on his children directly.The ending of this story isn't described clearly. However, I think Ryota certainly changes as a father.

While I liked some moving and sweet moments, being a father myself, I didn't like too much this movie for a few reasons.The first it's that the "bad" father looks like a little plausible one, brought to force the film to be a moving one and to accentuate the conflict.The second, even more important, is that the reason of the main issue, as is as it was shown, looks very improbable.Anyway, there is not need of a great culture or intelligence to understand that the sons are own by whoever grown them. The blood issue is secondary in such cases. Sure the movie lets you think for a moment about natural son versus adopted one, but the choice, in this particular case, however hard, it is naturally obligated. Both the sons were not babies anymore. Too late. The easiest solution should be, of course and obviously, the one it was going to be at the end of the movie. An hard but simple solution that every movie character understood from the start, but, casually, not the "bad" father.The film is somehow sweet, thanks to the children, and it shows a rare dilemma that could be hard to digest, but that's it all. There is not much more in here, apart how important is for a son to be supported and spend time with his father, whoever he is. Who didn't know this yet?7/10

"Work hard now, so there is no struggle later" declares a hard-driving and pushy Dad. As if work makes the man. As if it is so simple. Upon discovering his 6-year-old son was switched at birth, the Dad continues to focus on form and not heart. The family taking care of his real son is everything that he is not; fun-loving, adventuresome, and loving of the natural world. He pools his lawyers and his money in order to prove a point, yet the point proved may be his own demise. Though the story might be better developed in places, the theme is compelling and poignant, the actors are believable, and the disparate characters are intriguing. Winner of a Cannes festival jury prize. This film is about the importance of achieving real connections with others.

So it's a foreign movie - fine, not everybody gets it. It confronts the viewer with a different set of social codes - precisely Japanese, a softer way of doing things which is light-years away from what we're used to in the Western world. This said, you actually need only one thing to fully appreciate this story : that is to be a parent. And this time (which is rare), the subject focuses on fatherhood instead of the ever-scrutinized motherhood. If you're a modern father, having outgrown the prototypical figure of the mid-to-late 20th century and being at peace with your so-called "feminine side", you will find it at least puzzling, if not disturbing to put yourself in the main character's shoes. Finding out your biological son has been swapped for another at birth is a shocking thought - and a not easily-resolved dilemma. And just for that - even though this is not necessarily a masterpiece offering -, this gentle, humane piece of work is worth seeing and ponder upon. A kind warning: do not follow up right away with a viewing of Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt", another fatherhood-themed movie, unless you're ready for a bad case of the blues...