Like Father, Like Son

Would you choose your natural son, or the son you believed was yours after spending six years together? Kore-eda Hirokazu, the globally acclaimed director of “Nobody Knows,” “Still Walking,” and “I Wish” returns to the big screen with another family - a family thrown into torment after a phone call from the hospital where the son was born…

Ryota has earned everything he has by his hard work, and believes nothing can stop him from pursuing his perfect life as a winner. Then one day, he and his wife, Midori, get an unexpected phone call from the hospital. Their six-year-old son, Keita, is not ‘their’ son: the hospital gave them the wrong baby.

Ryota is forced to make a life-changing decision, to choose between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture.’ Seeing Midori’s devotion to Keita even after learning his origin, and communicating with the rough yet caring family that has raised his natural son for the last six years, Ryota also starts to question himself: has he really been a ‘father’ all these years? This is the moving story of a man who finally faces himself when he encounters an unexpected wall for the first time in his life.

“A tender poem about the ebb and flow of paternal love.” (Robbie Collin, The Telegraph)

FILM FESTIVALS

2013 FESTIVAL DE CANNES – JURY WINNER
2013 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2013 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
2013 CHICAGO FILM FESTIVAL