Life Father, Like Son (2013)

Hirokazu Koreeda, the director of the heartbreaking Nobody Knows, offers another touching story, sometimes painful, always thoughtful. Two couples must deal with the emotional fallout of a hospital's disclosure that their respective sons were switched at birth. In Hollywood, this would star Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks and every unsentimental roadblock would be cleared for a teary melodrama replete with a chocolatey denouement. Not Koreeda. His notion that a parent's love for a child is more complicated than we might imagine makes for a difficult but rewarding cinematic experience. The story focuses mainly on the parents' anguish as they try to negotiate a tentative switch, which yields mixed results. The performances are exceptional; Koreeda has a deft hand with adult and children actors, never allowing the latter to be cutesy cartoons but people who have a critical stake in the dramatic outcome. Winner of the Jury prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, a Dreamworks version is being planned for future release. Sigh.