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Tony Takitani
Strand Releasing


8.0

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

BOOKS:

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Yumi Endo, Rie Miyazawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Issei Ogata, and Shinohara Takahumi

Alone and self-sufficient since childhood, Tony shuns emotions as illogical and immature. After finding his true vocation as a technical illustrator, he becomes fascinated with Eiko, whom he marries. His life changes, he feels vibrantly alive, and for the first time, he understands and fears loneliness. But when Eiko's all consuming obsession for designer clothes ends in tragedy, Tony finds himself alone again, sitting in his wife's closet, gazing at her treasured couture pieces, the whispering ghosts of her soul. Finally, Tony places an ad in the paper searching for a woman who fits Eiko's measurements perfectly. (Strand Releasing)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Jun Ichikawa Haruki Murakami (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Jun Ichikawa
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 10, 2006 Theatrical: July 29, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	75 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Japan
LANGUAGE(S):	Japanese (with English subtitles)

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema - Dramatic), 2005 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie's underlying theme is the complex relationship between objects and memories, worked out through a taut, compelling story and superbly understated acting. Ryuichi Sakamoto composed the atmospheric score.

100

New York Post V.A. Musetto

No adventurous filmgoer will want to miss Tony Takitani.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It's a quiet dream of a movie, a vision of loneliness giving way to love, then to loneliness again; it's like "Vertigo" remade in a sedately haunted style of Japanese lyricism.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An exquisite film, as elegant and precise as an impeccably cut diamond. It's small in scale but wholly mesmerizing, holding us captive as it demonstrates how much enveloping richness can be conveyed with a minimalist style.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Neva Chonin

A visual poem.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

A haunting, melancholy fable, Tony Takitani is the kind of film that could seem tedious from a mere description. Approached with the right mind-set, however, it's a hypnotic mood piece on love and loss, one that knows -- at 75 minutes -- not to overstay its welcome.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The hues are so muted you may remember this as a black-and-white film, but its emotions are as vivid as primary colors.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Movies can't exactly replicate the feeling of reading a book, but Jun Ichikawa's adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story Tony Takitani comes remarkably close.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a film for specialized tastes, quiet, delicate. But it suits those tastes beautifully.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

This is one of those movies where you either give yourself up to its rhythms or give up entirely. It took me a few minutes to get used to it, but I found Tony Takitani absorbing and loaded with emotional power.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

This gossamer work is one of the loveliest examples of minimalist cinema I've seen in a long time.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A delicate wisp of a film with a surprisingly sharp sting.

Washington Post Teresa Wiltz

A marvelously moody meditation, beautiful to look at and beautiful to ponder as the camera slowly pans from one scene to the next, framing life as still life.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

It recommends itself best to viewers who can appreciate its novelty and roll with the risks it takes.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The result is a quietly simple fable that hits you hardest after it's over.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The film itself is also a beautiful work of art, exquisitely framed and precisely envisioned.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Tony Takitani, fablelike and beautiful, requires a certain amount of patience, but its small, peculiar charms work their way into your soul.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Oneiric as it is, though, Tony Takitani conveys a powerfully tangible sense of loss and loneliness. In both concrete and existential terms, it's a film that dwells on what the dead leave behind and how the living carry on.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Not many of us, I think, would want to see many films made this way, possibly not one more, but this one is an intriguing glance at the director-as-god, deigning to treat human frailty with imperial sway, assuming that his art justifies this slender material.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This minimalist meditation on loneliness and loss is so spare and drained of color that it seems always on the verge of fading into invisibility.

Variety Derek Elley

Ultimately, this is a striking-looking film -- consciously recalling the paintings of Edward Hopper in its architectural use of space -- which, like its protag, is a little short on real feeling.

Film Threat Eric Campos

You really have to be in the right mood to sit through Tony Takitani. You have to be ready to take in a thoroughly depressing story that moves...very...slowly.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jabez M. gave it a10:
This film, while admittedly short on narrative and action, has some of the most beautiful and haunting images I have ever seen in a film. They remain with me more than a year after viewing. With the proper mindset and expectations, Tony Takitani is richly rewarding.

Stephen Q. gave it a10:
A Must see for the open-minded. A slow, engaging, thoughtful and emotionally fulfiled film. It relies on atmosphere, setting and color to really imprint the emotions of each scene. If you sit through it and pay attention, you'll look back and feel impacted. I was.

Martin S. gave it a4:
The very definition of meandering. The writer ran out of material 5 minutes into the movie. A terrible dissapointment.

Matt A. gave it a10:
Beautiful. The San Francisco Chronicle was right: this film is a visual poem and unlike anything you've ever seen. Director Ichikawa executes perfectly what he sets out to do and the result is one of the finest films of the year. I would take this film over any of the best picture noms any day.

Douglas D. gave it a9:
slow, but interesting and reflective. Something one remembers.

Kirsten gave it a5:
An exercise in existentialist angst...I lost patience with it. And the director's habit of going from one scene to another by panning to the right of frame became maddening to me.

Myriam gave it a10:
Loneliness and love. How deep could be the suffering, to move people to do strange beahvior. And come back.

Tony Takitani Strand Releasing

Tony Takitani
Strand Releasing