Like Someone in Love | |
---|---|
Directed by | Abbas Kiarostami |
Produced by | Kenzo Horikoshi Nathanaël Karmitz |
Written by | Abbas Kiarostami |
Starring |
Rin Takanashi Tadashi Okuno Ryō Kase |
Cinematography | Katsumi Yanagishima |
Production
company |
MK2
Eurospace |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
109 minutes |
Country | France Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Budget | US$ 4.8 million |
Box office | $486,075 |
Like Someone in Love (Japanese: ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ Raiku Samuwan In Rabu) is a French-Japanese drama, the final film written and directed by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, starring Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno and Ryō Kase. The France-Japan co-production competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
In Tokyo, sociology student Akiko (Rin Takanashi) moonlights as a high-end prostitute. Her jealous boyfriend, Noriaki (Ryō Kase) is suspicious, but does not know about her work.
One night, she is assigned to Takashi (Tadashi Okuno), an elderly former university professor who is more interested in making her dinner than having sex. The morning after their unconsummated night, Takashi drives Akiko to school for her exams. While waiting in the car for her, he encounters Noriaki, who assumes Takashi is her grandfather and asks permission to marry her. Takashi does not correct Noriaki's assumption and assures him he isn't ready for marriage.
After Akiko's test, the three drive toward a bookstore. Noriaki diagnoses a problem with the car, and convinces Takashi to drive it to the garage he owns, where he replaces a fan belt. There they encounter one of Takashi's former students; Akiko worries he will reveal the truth to Noriaki.
Takashi drops Akiko at the bookstore and returns home. Soon afterwards, he receives a panicked phone call from Akiko and returns to the bookstore to pick her up. Her mouth is bloodied, but she does not say why. Takashi takes Akiko to his apartment. Noriaki arrives, threatening them over the intercom and banging on the door. Takashi peers out his window to see what Noriaki is doing. An object is thrown through the window and Takashi falls to the floor.
Like Someone in Love is a film production of France's MK2 Group and Japan's Eurospace. It had a budget of $4.8 million (US). Filming was originally planned for April 2011, but had to be rescheduled because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The film was eventually shot over eight weeks in October 2011. Filming was done in Tokyo and Yokohama.