Soshite chichi ni naru 2013

Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine: The children's performances are winning, but the director's dogmatic social scheme saps the dramatic tension in a film whose predictable message is: to be like a real father, you must connect with your son. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's built to be the austere version of a tear-jerking crowd-pleaser, and that's just what it is, though with a bizarre cross-cultural eccentricity at the center of it. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: Little Keita Ninomiya plays Keita with such tenderness, while Fukuyama makes Ryota harsh at first, and fills in each step of the man's progress with precision. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Follows [a] pattern fairly predictably at first, then transcends it with tenderness, humor and exquisite depth of feeling. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A moving drama about parenthood from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Read more

Maggie Lee, Variety: As usual, the director retains his controlled style even as he moves toward a more traditional narrative mode. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Like Father, Like Son has the overall depth and tenor of a Lifetime movie. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Writer and director Hirokazu Koreeda does not pretend that there are easy answers in his film, which at times plays almost like a fable. But the emotions and heartbreak are always grounded in reality. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: A bittersweet musing about the nature of parenthood and about the conflict between nature and nurture, it is as banal and insightful as its title. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: [A] moving drama, one of the best to date from Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: At times like this, Like Father, Like Son ascends to dizzying emotional heights. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Koreeda's film never feels gimmicky; he uses the situation to examine both nature and nurture while dealing with ties that simply can't be broken. "Like Father, Like Son" ponders the meaning of family. Read more

Calum Marsh, Film.com: Given its sensitivity in other areas, the film's conception of its own class divide is stunningly trite. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: Though it's packed with adorable tykes and more than a few strong scenes, even Kore-eda fans may feel a let-down with a lovely film that makes little emotional connection Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Its children-switched-at-birth story sounds schematic, but what we see on screen is both meaningful and deeply moving. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Wry, funny and wise, like most of the work of Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: What stays with you ... is the unlikely shadow of loss, not least in the hearts of the boys' mothers: how can a loving child, even the "wrong" one, be let go? Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: [An] engaging if ultimately predictable film ... Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: While some of the class conflict is predictable, the movie wins out by treating everyone as individuals, not types, and maintaining a muted tone. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. Hirokazu again creates a pair of irresistible charmers whose lives are, with increasing emotional violence, upended ... by the very adults meant to take care of them. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: The movie is so predictable that it might have played better as a domestic comedy about an odd couple of dads. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: If you've seen Hirokazu Koreeda's films - Nobody Knows, Still Life, I Wish - then just the announcement that a new one, Like Father, Like Son, has arrived is all you need to know. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The questions posed by Like Father, Like Son are universal in nature and the manner in which Kore-eda addresses them makes for superior drama. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: [Kore-eda] pokes some fun at class differences, but his overall aim is serious - we get a powerful sense of how unsettling it would be to live through such a wrenching event. Remarkably, he conveys this with charm and restraint. Read more

Minneapolis Star Tribune: A deeply affecting Japanese family tale from Hirokazu Kore-eda, renowned for his films about parents, children, blood bonds and loss. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Like Father, Like Son is always wise about the quandary faced by the two fathers and the two mothers. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: If you've seen any of Koreeda's previous films, and especially the wrenching children-alone saga Nobody Knows, it won't surprise you to learn that the observation of children in Like Father, Like Son is unfailingly acute ... Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: [Kore-eda's] latest, for all its careful construction and sweet pockets of feeling, is his glibbest and most morally one-sided film to date. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: This is a relentlessly quiet character study that is photographed with Zen remove and scored metronomically to Bach and Beethoven, each scene clipped to the barest essentials. Read more

Ernest Hardy, Village Voice: Its banal questions and calculated answers turn out to be carefully laid tripwires for the thematic concerns of the film. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: In general, the speed and stoicism with which Keita and Ryusei adjust to the familial maneuvering is, quite frankly, weird. Read more