Title: Tony Takitani
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Ichikawa Jun
Format: Movie; 75 minutes.
Dates: 29 Jan 2005

Synopsis: Born just after World War II, and a few days before his mother’s death, Tony Takitani was named after his father’s American friend, thinking that American names were soon going to become popular in Japan. Tony’s father was a touring jazz musician, which meant that Tony spent a lot of his childhood alone. Tony became skilled at drawing, and while his works were technically precise, they lacked heart. He became a technical illustrator, but even in his adulthood, his loneliness persisted. That was until he fell in love with a co-worker, Konuma Eiko.

The Highlights
Character analysis: A complete portrait of a character.
Music: Sakamoto Ryuichi’s soft, tender piano soundtrack is superb.
Cinematography: Minimalist; complements the understated mood of the film.
Themes: A meaningful exploration of loneliness and addiction.
Ending: The film offers no answers, which is actually quite fitting, given the subject matter.

Tony Takitani is a minimalist, subdued film which paints a portrait of an individual. With a very slow, deliberate pace and a simplistic plotline, this isn’t the sort of film that’s going to have wide appeal. However, director Ichikawa Jun’s adaptation of a short story by Murakami Haruki has an artistic soul, and his film is tender and unique, albeit pessimistic.

There’s a lot to write about the film’s unique technical approach. Academy Award winning composer Sakamoto Ryuichi’s soft piano melodies permeate throughout the film, except for in a few scenes. His music is fantastic, frequently melancholic but always tender and subdued, setting the perfect atmosphere for the film. The cinematography is slow and deliberate, matching the film’s pacing. Camera angles frequently involve a straight shot that pans slowly towards the right. Even the narrative style is unconventional, with much of the story being told by a narrator. The film is largely driven by introspection, and there’s very little in the way of dialogue, but instead regular one-line monologues. There’s an interesting quirk to the script, with the actors frequently completing the narrator’s lines. It’s another example of the film’s unconventional approach, but this one requires significant suspension of disbelief (unless you can swallow the idea of a teary eyed woman uttering the line: “‘Why are you crying?’ her asked her”). The acting is good, particularly from stage actor Ogata Issei, who gives a strong, suitably subtle performance as both the title character and his father.

Subtlety is the order of the day as Tony Takitani simultaneously explores two themes about addiction and loneliness. The latter is particularly interesting, as the film makes the point about loneliness only being truly crippling once you’ve experienced what it’s like not to be lonely. In the second half of the film, the ways in which Tony attempts to deal with his loneliness paint a haggard and depressingly isolated figure (again, hats off to Ogata for the portrayal). Two scenes in particular towards the very end of the film make the strong suggestion that loneliness isn’t just a consequence of Tony’s introspective personality, but rather that it is his destiny to be completely alone. And while the ending is downbeat, it isn’t sad in an overly emotional way, but could almost be seen as a muted acceptance of reality. The fact that this film avoids overstating things makes the drama all the more powerful. The ending avoids what I considered to be the two most obvious conclusions and leaves us with something much more open; it might annoy viewers after a more conclusive narrative, complete with answers, but for such a pragmatic character-driven story, I can’t think of a more fitting finale.

The low number of characters and simple plot allows Tony Takitani to be a thorough exploration of its title character. Just about everything in this film is understated, but its minimalist and unconventional approach allows it be a very poignant and meaningful story about loneliness. It’s slow pace and the occasionally far-fetched plot point can be jarring, but there’s no denying the artistic soul and tenderness of the film.

The Rating: 8

Reviewed by: Sorrow-kun