He's working hard. He wants to be like you.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's gift for working with child actors is very much in evidence in his latest film, 2013's Like Father, Like Son (which won the Jury Prize at Cannes last year). His focus this time is more on their parents, though, specifically the two sets (from decidedly different social strata) who are rocked by the revelation that their six-year-old sons were switched at birth. The representatives from the hospital on the hook for the error are extremely apologetic about the whole thing -- especially when DNA tests prove it -- but Kore-eda puts the lawsuit on the back burner (having a lawyer friend of one of the fathers handle it) so he can foreground the agony of the parents as they try to decide what's best for themselves and their children. In the process, he also illustrates their differing parenting styles, which may have done more to shape their sons than the genes they were born with.
On one side, you've got workaholic architect Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama), who spends little time with his family, and his wife Midori (Machiko Ono). On the other is unambitious appliance store owner Yudai Saiki (Lily Franky) and his wife Yukari (Yôko Maki), who have two more children besides the one that got switched. Caught in the middle are wide-eyed Keita (Keita Nonomiya), who works hard to try to please Ryota even though nothing ever seems to be good enough for him, and canny Ryusei (Sh&oacirc;gen Hwang), who prefers his laid-back "Mommy and Daddy" to his curiously demanding "Mother and Father." Then there's the matter of the economic disparity between the two families. The Nonomiyas are quite well-off compared to the Saikis, who seem more concerned about the potential windfall from their lawsuit than which boy belongs with which family. "Seem" is the operative word here, though, since it soon becomes abundantly clear that the Saikis care deeply about their son(s). This leads Ryota to come to a discomfiting realization about his shortcomings as a father, but once he gets there, it's a sure sign that he's ready to become a better one.