Like Someone In Love - Blu-ray Review

'The jazz club-like opening, played out in dark corners and neon, which moves on to a taxi tour of Tokyo is evocative, but more so of 'somewhere' than necessarily that particular city.'

If you look at writer/director Abbas Kiarostami's past work closely, you'll find a film called Five Dedicated to Ozu. After watching Like Someone In Love, the director's clear nods to and respect of Yasujirô Ozu are even more obvious. This is a film made in Ozu's image, a quiet Drama where the camera acts as passive observer to the sometime-foibles of the on screen characters.

At the film's heart are excellent performances by Rin Takanashi and Tadashi Okuno, as a call girl and her elderly client. Takashi (Okuno) orders Akiko (Takanashi) to his apartment but then proceeds to lord it over a slightly strange evening where his desire seems to be a paternal need to cook for and look after the young girl. Things develop when Takashi meets Akiko's abusive boyfriend.

The jazz club-like opening, played out in dark corners and neon, which moves on to a taxi tour of Tokyo is evocative, but more so of 'somewhere' than necessarily that particular city. The mixture of the old and the new, mirrored in Takashi and Akiko's relationship, brings out an idea that the characters are living outside of their time. Akiko's aunt, who features in a heartbreaking scene, is shot waiting underneath an old statue, surrounded by neon, as Akiko sweeps past on her way to her new job.

Kiarostami is also clearly interested in ideas of family, lineage and paternity. The obvious is the role Takashi grows into, becoming de facto father for Akiko, who seems lost in the city. Look closely though and the same ideas are peppered throughout the film. Akiko's boyfriend wants to marry her, but is clearly struggling to contain an inner rage and become a 'family man'. More subtly, on the several occasions we wait with the camera outside Takashi's apartment, every passer-by is dragging a child further down the street, whilst inside Takashi is trying to drag Akiko into 'proper' adulthood.

Like Someone In Love is slow and patient and it won't be to everyone's tastes because of that, but if you can relax into it, Kiarostami has successfully depicted a film a modern day Ozu might make, with all of the gentle positives that brings with it. More of this please.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.