Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Like Father, Like Son Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2018

Note: This version of the film is available as part of Family Values: Three Films by Hirokazu Kore-eda.

The good folks at Arrow Video and/or Arrow Academy may be thanking their lucky stars that Hirokazu Kore-eda has just been feted with the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Festival (for Shoplifters), an award that may raise the profile of their so-called Family Values set of three Kore-eda films from the past several years. The timing for Kore-eda's award may seem especially fortuitous since this set, while not brand new, seems to be a repackaging (with some additional non-disc swag like a rather nicely done booklet) of three standalone releases that Arrow brought out not all that long ago (I Wish, Like Father, Like Son, After the Storm). As is discussed in some of the supplements included on this release, Kore-eda’s long history in Japan’s television industry tends to give his feature films a smaller scale, more intimate ambience, and it probably can’t be denied that at least some plot points in the three films in this set might be perfectly at home in what might be termed a “Lifetime Channel Very Special Film Made for Television” category. That said, Kore-eda is a remarkably facile director with children, and all three films explore a kind of childlike perspective that in some ways tended to remind me of the work of Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Other), at least in terms of Mulligan’s ability to capture an honest depiction of how kids see the world around them, if not in any pure content way. All three films delve into family dysfunctions in sometimes visceral ways, though often in an emotionally tamped down ambience that seems to be perfectly Japanese, where deep emotions are masked out what may be a fear that some kind of “communal” peace (however illusory) might be disturbed.

If I Wish reminded me most of Robert Mulligan’s work with children out of the three films in the Family Values set, Like Father, Like Son probably is most reminiscent of certain Lifetime-esque heartstring pulling affairs, though it’s fascinating to see how Kore-eda takes a basic Switched at Birth setup and filters it through a uniquely Japanese perspective. Once again seemingly uncontrollable emotions arising out of a horrifying error are kept at bay, until a fairly cathartic moment late in the film when everything comes spilling out.

Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama) is a successful businessman with a lovely wife named Midori (Machiko Ono) and darling little boy named Keita (Keita Ninomiya). The Nonomiyas are trying to get Keita accepted at a tony school as the film opens, and the panel interviewing them asks which parent Keita is most like and what, if anything, the little boy could do better at. Already, there’s a slightly askew feeling about things, as Ryota mentions that Keita tends to be more like Midori and that some of Keita’s lack of ambition chafes against Ryota’s Type A sensibilities. A bit later an unexpected revelation sets the actual plot in motion, as Ryota and Midori are stunned to find out that Keita is in fact not their biological son.

Perhaps expectedly, the dumbstruck Nonomiyas meet the other couple affected by this fiasco, Yukari (Yōko Maki) and Yudai Sakai (Lily Franky), who have been parenting Ryusei (Shôgen Hwang), who is of course the biological son of the Nonomiyas. But here Kore-eda perhaps toys at least a little with expectations, making the Sakais a more rustic, rural (and supposedly “uneducated”) couple who nonetheless see the hospital mistake as a potential ticket toward monetary damages. Interestingly, though, Kore-eda doesn’t really paint the Sakais as villains in any major sense, and the film tends to explore the situation with a surprising amount of nuance, leading, after some interstitial melodrama, to what might be thought of as a Japanese interpretation of what constitutes a “Modern Family”.

Like Father, Like Son Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All three films in the Family Values set are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.85:1. I have to say I was genuinely surprised to not find any information about the transfers in any of the material accompanying this release, a first (or at least what I'm recalling as a first) for an Arrow release. I even looked at the back covers of the previously released standalone versions (linked to above in the first paragraph of the review), and kind of interestingly, none of those seemed to have any information about the transfers on them, either. With that said, all three of these films share certain similarities (including the fact that all were shot on 35mm and finished at 2K DIs, according to the IMDb), so I'll speak in generalities before moving on to each film in particular.

From a damage or age related issue perspective, these are absolutely flawless transfers, no doubt due at least in part to their relatively recent vintage. Fine grain also looks natural on all three transfers for the most part (exceptions are noted below). My one slight qualm with all three of these is that they look just slightly bright at times to my eyes, something that tends to make contrast a bit anemic, especially in what are already more brightly lit moments. That said, palettes, while not especially vivid in any of the three films, look decently saturated, though as I'll discuss in the following individual comments, things can look a bit odd at times in terms of a "natural" appearance.

Like Father, Like Son's palette looks a little desaturated and cool in the very opening interview sequence, but warms up considerably thereafter. While not overly vivid, colors look natural, though the film tends to emphasize cooler pastels a lot of the time. The opening interview sequence features a really bright white background where fine grain can be hard to spot, but that's countered by several dark scenes where grain actually tends to clump a bit, encountering some compression hurdles. The first of these is at around 5:43 with a quick establishing exterior shot that may actually be stock footage, but then the same clumpiness accrues in another dark scene in the apartment at around 11:43 that is definitely not stock since it features three principal performers. A few isolated sequences, like the first meeting of the parents, have a somewhat greenish tint to them that tends to make things like flesh tones look rather odd. Detail levels are generally quite commendable throughout the presentation.

Like Father, Like Son Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All three of the films in this set offer either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 tracks. The LPCM 2.0 tracks on both Like Father, Like Son and After the Storm sounded like they had slightly heftier amplitude than their respective surround tracks, something that I Wish didn't. All three films feature rather winning scores, with I Wish offering both guitars (an allusion to the kids' rock star wannabe Dad, I'm assuming) as well as some really breezy "Stephane Grappelli"-esque violin cues. Like Father, Like Son has some very sweet solo piano, again alluding to some father-son activities. After the Storm has a more pop oriented score. The surround tracks on all three films benefit from good placement of ambient environmental sounds, and dialogue on all three films comes through very cleanly and clearly.

Like Father, Like Son Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Family Ties Part II (HD; 11:34) continues Jasper Sharp's conversation with Kore-eda begun on I Wish, with comments on Like Father, Like Son filmed at the BFI's London Film Festival in 2016.


• Nature vs. Nurture (HD; 19:08) features Alexander Jacoby discussing the film and some of its underlying plot points.


• Selected Scene Commentary (HD; 1:07:43) offers picture in picture commentary from Masaharu Fukuyama and Lily Franky (in Japanese with forced English subtitles).


• Like Father, Like Son in Cannes (HD: 22:35) is from 2013 and features some Q & A with Masaharu Fukuyama.


• In Conversation with Kore-eda: Masaharu Fukuyama (HD; 11:16) offers a dialogue from October 2013.


• Wrap Footage (HD; 6:08)


• Trailers

  Trailer 1 (HD; 00:36)

  Trailer 2 (HD; 00:56)

  Trailer 3 (HD; 1:44)

  Trailer 4 (HD; 00:17)

  Trailer 5 (HD; 00:32)

Additionally, the box set contains a beautifully done insert booklet (almost a pamphlet, really) with stills and writing on all three films. Also, just a note about the supplements on all three films: while all of them are ostensibly high definition, at least some of them show signs of upscaling.

Like Father, Like Son Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like Father, Like Son builds to a surprisingly cathartic resolution, and it commendably avoids some of the pitfalls that its "Lifetime" premise might have presented. Once again, performances are top notch, including those of the kids, and the treatment of an inherently touchy subject is handled with nuance and emotional authenticity. Recommended.