Tony Takitani

Based on the short story by Haruki Murakami, Jun Ichikawa's Toni Takitani is without strong family attachments, an "outsider" who is unable to fully give of himself to... more >

Based on the short story by Haruki Murakami, Jun Ichikawa's Toni Takitani is without strong family attachments, an "outsider" who is unable to fully give of himself to another person. It feels natural to him to be alone. To evoke Murakami's world of silence and serenity, Ichikawa fills the screen with blank spaces and uses only a simple theater stage with very few actors and little dialogue. The thoughts of the characters are conveyed only in low-toned voiceovers that establish a mood of solitude and melancholy.

Tony grew up feeling lonely as his mother died when he was only two and his father was mostly out of town on tour with his jazz band. He developed his talent as a mechanical illustrator and enjoyed the work. By the time he was thirty-five he had managed to save a lot of money but he did not realize how lonely he was until he was almost forty. Tony had never considered marriage, had never seen a need for it. Then without warning, he fell in love with Eiko (Miyazawa). The first thing he noticed about her was how she wore her clothes. He had never seen a woman wear her clothes with such apparent joy."

Tony now felt that his loneliness was over. Eiko, however, still felt an emptiness. She needed to buy more and more expensive clothes to maintain her self-image. Tony Takitani unfolds slowly, chapter by chapter as in a book, and one scene seems to blend laterally into another. The film is slow, darkly poetic, and almost surreal, yet it builds in power and emotional resonance until you are completely snared by its inner rhythm and left to quietly explore its implications.
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DVD Extras

• Trailer
• Making Of
• Special Limited Edition Paperback Of Short Story "Tony Takitani".

Film Details

Cast

Issey Ogata, Rie Miyazawa

Technical Details