Tel père, tel fils

The screenplay is far ahead - a complex, delicate, yet with a uniquely-balancing serious theme and humor, overlap and a personal story. A critical and sentimental family story from contemporary Japan, which most evoked Farhadi’s A Separation in Karlovy Vary this year. Beware: the mere "friendliness" is easily confused with the depth and richness of the topics involved. An inconspicuous gem. (05/07/2013)

A baby switch from a distinguished Japanese perspective. Two families with a different social status standing before a Sophie’s Choice of the modern world. Giving up their assumed son for their real six-year-old son brought up in completely different (not just) social conditions? Can they love him as much? Acted, written and filmed sensitively, touchingly, without Koreeda using an instant of blackmail, but quite the opposite, remaining nicely down-to-earth. The only thing is, I would have perhaps welcomed greater focus on the other family; although I understand the author’s decision to view things mainly from Ryota’s perspective, and so this isn’t a mistake in this case but clear (and functional) intention, but still it’s a shame. (01/05/2014)

Maybe an overlong painful film. As I've talked to the people who saw it with me, the mothers got properly shaken. It's sensitively filmed, the acting is Japanese standard, the music is nice, the story is soul-wrenching if you sympathize with the situation, which will be easy for many parents. Everything floats along so nicely and you're still not sure if the kids will really be switched anyway. A powerful human drama and a strong 3 stars. (06/07/2013)