Summary
A story of a technical illustrator Tony Takitani.
Tony Takitani is a real name. He was named by his father Shozarubo, a Jazz trombone player. Tony is the first name of an American military officer, from him Shozaburo received assistance. And, by his name like a foreigner, Tony was hated and became solitary.
Tony was good at drawing, so he graduated from an Art college and became a reputable technical illustrator. The characteristics of his works is lack of humanity and warmth, but elaborate and precise. He had been lived in poverty in the postwar period, but he succeed and had a certain amount of fortune.
A day, Tony fell in love with a girl Eiko is 15 years younger than him. They married and spent happy days.
But Eiko’s habit and problem are to buy too many outfits of luxury brands such as Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Giorgio Armani. Tony advised on her habit because its unnecessarily not a problem of money. So she went to return new clothes, and on her way home she was involved in a traffic accident…
(…)
Movie Review
Tony Takitani is a story of an (imaginary) Japanese technical illustrator Tony Takitani. This movie dispassionately describes Tony’s lonely, pitiable, boring, trifled and usual but well-off and stable life (includes the traffic accident and the death of Tony’s wife).
This movie is composed by succession of simple shots. Low-exposure and high aperture white and high contrast images, and texture of film express the peaceful and well-off life of Tony and his wife in the ordinary Tokyo suburban town.
The original directions of this movie are double roles (Issey Ogata rolled Tony Takitani and Shozaburo Takitani, Rie Miyazawa rolled Konuma Eiko and Hisako), and characters objectively mention themselves and say monologues and questions in Murakami’s original novel. This directions got audiences to view this story objectively and reflectively. They mean today’s excessive reflexivity and the agony of self and identity.
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s minimalist piano soundtrack, a modern minimal set of Tony’s house, and texture of the image match the story and the theme. And it nicely depicts the beauty of daily life, and love and sorrow, light and shadow of a man. It’s not great movie but a beautiful, refreshing and fine movie.
Details of the Movie
Tony Takitani
Directed by Jun Ichikawa
Story by Haruki Murakami
Screenplay by Jun Ichikawa
Starring: Issey Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Takahumi Shinohara
Narration: Hidetoshi Nishijima
Running time: 75 mintutes
Release date: 29 January 2005
Language: Japanese