…While the adults attempt to sort through the conflicting bonds of blood and water, the children flow from family to family like intermingling streams of effervescent life. As before, Kore-eda’s facility for casting and directing young performers is spine-tingling; watching these children as they watch their parents is utterly mesmerising, reminiscent of the finest work of the Dardenne brothers; unobtrusive, intuitive, instinctive. Equally impressive is the refusal to reduce any of the adults to stereotypes – while a cliched contrast between wealth and austerity beckons, Kore-eda invests his characters with believable flaws and strengths, regardless of class and situation. Even the nominal “villain” of the piece (the nurse responsible for the switch) is given a sympathetic hearing – a lost soul with her own parental issues. The result is a deceptively rich and rewarding drama, small of gesture, huge of heart.

Mark Kermode

The Guardian

Like Father Like Son

6 DECEMBER:  7 pm
Drama
120 Mins | Japan | 2013 |

VENUE: VERANDAH ROOM
MALENY COMMUNITY CENTRE
23 MAPLE STREET MALENY 

This thought-provoking, award-winning drama by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokasu Kore-edais summarised by Rotten Tomatoes as “sensitively written, smartly directed, and powerfully performed.” Ryota, a successful workaholic businessman, is taken by surprise when he learns that his biological son was mistakenly switched with another baby soon after birth, and that the boy he and his wife are raising as their own, is not theirs. When they meet their son and the other set of parents, who come from a different social background and offer a different perspective on things, the situation becomes complicated. They now face the difficult decision of choosing between the two boys. Poignant and moving, this film explores the nature of parenthood and the thorny issues of raising children. It offers no easy answers, but delivers a tender and hopeful ending left open to interpretation.

EVENING SCREENING
No need to book in advance
Doors Open at 6:00 pm for cabaret seating and pizza ($4 per slice), licensed bar, complimentary tea/coffee
Movie starts at 7:00 pm