Like Father Like Son

If you've seen any of Koreeda's previous films, and especially the wrenching children-alone saga Nobody Knows, it won't surprise you to learn that the observation of children in Like Father, Like Son is unfailingly acute ...

Koreeda's film never feels gimmicky; he uses the situation to examine both nature and nurture while dealing with ties that simply can't be broken. "Like Father, Like Son" ponders the meaning of family.

Writer and director Hirokazu Koreeda does not pretend that there are easy answers in his film, which at times plays almost like a fable. But the emotions and heartbreak are always grounded in reality.

If you've seen Hirokazu Koreeda's films - Nobody Knows, Still Life, I Wish - then just the announcement that a new one, Like Father, Like Son, has arrived is all you need to know.

A moving drama about parenthood from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda.

A deeply affecting Japanese family tale from Hirokazu Kore-eda, renowned for his films about parents, children, blood bonds and loss.

Always gentle, always composed, the films of Hirokazu Kore-eda also register quiet devastation, often within the family. The stirring -- the earthquake, even -- usually happens beneath the surface of calm.

[Hirokazu Kore-eda] uses an attractive and talented cast to find a fresh take on a subject that has been mined by television movies and series ad infinitum.

Completely realistic because it is in keeping with the reserved temperament of the culture.

Powerful Japanese film about children switched at birth who challenge the love and hope of their rediscovered parents six years later. Beautiful and heartbreaking, from the masterful Hirokazu Koreeda.

Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda delivers a quiet, beautifully modulated, touching drama.

There are times when the script seems just too schematic - as if Kore-eda has decided that we should all sit still while he lays out the nature versus nurture debate. Then the small truths which enrich each scene take over.