Pun Salad

I'm sure this is a pretty good movie. You can see that the IMDB raters gave it high marks, and its awards page is very long, filled with nominations and wins. But it wasn't my cup of sake.

Oh, yeah: it's Japanese, and the version we watched was undubbed, so a lot of subtitle-reading.

The story centers around Ryota, a hard-charging ambitious professional. He's a Tiger Dad to his six-year-old son, very pushy on the piano lessons.

Except that, as it turns out, his son is not (in a biological sense) his son. Babies were accidentally switched at birth! And bio-son is living a lower-middle-class existence with a different (but loving) family miles away.

Multiple problems ensue. Should they go with biology and switch the kids back? It doesn't help that Ryota is seemingly cold and uncaring to both children. The other family is as colorful and warm as Ryota is … not. What will happen?

To quote someone (but not Abe Lincoln): "People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."