Like
Father Like Son (2013/Sundance
Selects/MPI DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: A
Ryota
and his wife Midori learns their 6 year old son, Keita, is not their
son, he was accidentally switched at birth in the hospital. After
tracking down their real son, both sides now have to decide weather
to switch back their biological child, but either way, gaining a son
means losing the son they have been raising for 6 years. Both sides
contemplates what to do, but whatever they decide it will define
"What does it mean to be a parent?"
In
Hirokazu Koreeda's Like
Father, Like Son
(2013), Ryota is an upper class businessman, but after discovering
his child was not of his bloodline he realizes it all makes sense,
the perfect excuse why his current son isn't super smart and hard
working like him, and it is the perfect chance to start over with his
'real' son. However, his wife Midori refuses to believe that the
past six years has been in vain, and that there is some connection
even though they are not blood related. Only after switching sons
does Ryota realize his mistake and misses the times and experiences
he shared with his son.
This
was an interesting family drama of nature vs. nurture, is blood and
lineage truly important? A social elite who is a perfectionist and
workaholic, after discovering his child was not his has the perfect
excuse to blame his child's flaws, but then is a child a reflection
of his parents or how he was raised by the parents? In the end both
families value their biological child, but can't help but still love
the child they raised, yet there is much more to this and I highly
recommend it.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
mix are as good as they could be in this format and made me wish for
a Blu-ray version. Extras include trailers.
-
Ricky Chiang
