Like Father, Like Son

SPOILERS

On the surface the story of Like Father, Like Son is very simple, yet the movie is emotionally very complex.

We start off by seeing a nice comfortable Japanese family. Hard-working father, doting mother and six year old son Keita who is preparing for school entrance exams. Life isn't perfect - Dad works too much and doesn't spend enough time with his wife and child - but everyone seems happy enough.

Just as we've got to know the family a bit, the parents get called to the hospital where Keita was born and told that there was a mix-up at the birth and Keita is not their son...

The next part of the film was a bit too slow for me. We meet the other two parents who got a boy that they called Ryusei. The parents are told that they should probably swap the boys. Obviously they can't just do it overnight so they have a few trial visits and sleepovers.

I must admit that I got a bit bored of some scenes where the parents and kids were just doing ordinary stuff. I guess that had to be there to show the length of the process... which was months, I think. But I'm glad I stuck with this film, because the final third is incredibly moving.

Both families are very different, so the boys struggle to settle in their "real" homes. Also, being six they aren't old enough to understand why things are happening, but they certainly know what is happening... and the parents are all in bits because they love their original sons but feel almost obliged to swap back to their blood relatives. What is more important, DNA or six years of shared experiences?

There are a few twists and turns. Because the families are so different we get four different perspectives from the parents... plus various friends and relatives have to offer their own opinions.

After dithering for months the parents finally decide to swap for good. But things don't quite work out and Ryusei runs away back to his original family. His parents go after him and when Keita sees his original dad he runs away! But dad chases and pours his heart out to the boy.

The film finishes with everyone together, so you have to guess for yourself what happens. I like to think that the boys went back to their original families, but that the families stayed friends so that the parents could see their offspring and Keita and Ryusei could see each other (as they had become friends).

Everyone involved should be very proud of this film.