Like Father, Like Son

Like Father, Like Son directed by Hirokazu Koreeda was a film with many layers. A quick synopsis of the film would show at the surface two families torn by the tragedy of their boys being switched at birth. However, the characters and their situations make the film a dense one.

First, I noted the family dynamic of Ryota, Midori and Keita. At first they seem very well put together but within the first ten minutes you see the fathers disconnect from his family. As a successful business man he is always working and his home life suffers. You can feel the frustration by the sly comments made by his tough but obedient wife Midori. They both want the best for their son but you can see the differences in parenting style. The father is a tough authoritarian and the mother a caring soul. At one point she is so fed up with all the decisions made by her husband that she asks her son Keita on the train if he would like to run away with her. Keita says well what about daddy and she replies, he has his work.

What’s even more burdening is that quickly we find out that Keita who has been groomed to be the perfect son is not actually theirs. Ryota and Midori struggle with the thought of having to trade their son with a boy they had never even met. Upon meeting the family that has been raising their actual son they are appalled. The family is seemingly poor and not very well mannered as Keita has been taught to be. The other family, the Saiki’s, quickly ask how much they will be paid in damages for such a horrible mix up. You quickly see the cultural and ideological differences between the two fathers.

As the film continues Midori begins to feel persecuted by others for the fact that she did not notice that she had taken the wrong child home. Her mother-in-law and husband even throw some blame in not so discrete ways. Midori actually finds a common ground and friendship with the woman that has been raising her actual son.
While all this is going on you see Ryota as a pious man that has never made a mistake and is quick to judge. After wrestling with the idea of switching children he finally decided that he must have his biological son after his father says it’s that blood that matters most. What is more strange and revealing is that Ryota was raised by a women that was not his mother but loved him just as a son.
After the switch you start to see the human side of Ryota and feel for him. He realizes the mistake he made by giving up the boy, his son, that he has raised for the past six years. The most powerful part of the film is when he sees all the pictures Keita had been taking of him while he was asleep and breaks down. He goes back to a furious Keita but is quickly forgiven.
My hope by what I saw at the end of the film is the families put all differences aside, remain with the boys they had been raising for years and still remain friends so that they see the boys grow together.