LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
When Akiko (Rin Takanashi), a lovely Tokyo student who moonlights as a call girl, is dispatched to a new client in the suburbs, she is surprised to find the shy and elderly Takashi (81-year-old stage actor Tadashi Okuno), a committed academic constantly distracted by work-related phone calls. The lonely widower seems far more interested in playing house than having sex, however, and the young woman soon falls asleep. The next day, when the two encounter Akiko's volatile boyfriend Noriaki (Ryo Kase), Takashi plays into Noriaki's assumption that he is actually Akiko's grandfather. As the three settle into their new roles, Takashi finds himself becoming the protector that Akiko so desperately needs.
From master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami - director of TASTE OF CHERRY, TEN, CLOSE-UP, and CERTIFIED COPY!
"The film constantly toys with the expectations of both its characters and the audience, transforming a classic three-way tale of mistaken identities into something much more mysterious and troubling."
-Jordan Mintzer, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"The many trips through Tokyo, filmed incisively from moving vehicles, infuse the rich texture of the city with a startling emotional intensity and a sense of teeming ambient drama ..."
-Richard Brody, NEW YORKER
"A lovely riddle of a film about thwarted desire and mistaken identities... the Kiarostami touch is on full display. LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE is gorgeously shot... the film is never less than pleasing to watch."
-Jon Frosch, THE ATLANTIC
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Unrated.
Japan/France, 2012, Digital Projection, 109minutes, Color, Japanese with English Subtitles.