Like Someone in Love

Name: Like Someone in Love
Genre: Drama
Released: February 15, 2013
Duration: 109 min
Rating: 76
Cast: Rin Takanashi, Ryo Kase, Tadashi Okuno

2013

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Ratings

See All

7.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.2	Your Score
7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: February 15, 2013 | Not Rated

Starring: Rin Takanashi, Ryo Kase, Tadashi Okuno

Summary: Abbas Kiarostami, the writer/director of the critically acclaimed "Certified Copy," travels even further afield from his native Iran for this mysteriously beautiful romantic drama filmed entirely in Japan. Like Someone in Love revolves around the brief encounter between an elderly professor (81-year-old stage actor Tadashi Okuno, hereAbbas Kiarostami, the writer/director of the critically acclaimed "Certified Copy," travels even further afield from his native Iran for this mysteriously beautiful romantic drama filmed entirely in Japan. Like Someone in Love revolves around the brief encounter between an elderly professor (81-year-old stage actor Tadashi Okuno, here playing his first leading role in a film) and a sociology student (Rin Takanashi) who moonlights as a high-end escort. Dispatched to the old man by her boss—one of the professor’s former students—the young woman finds her latest client less interested in sex than in cooking her soup, talking, and playing old Ella Fitzgerald records. Eventually, night gives way to day and a tense standoff with the student’s insanely jealous boyfriend (Ryo Kase); but as usual in Kiarostami, nothing is quite as it appears on the surface. Are these characters—who conjure in one another the specters of regret and roads not taken—meeting by chance, or is it fate? Is this love, or merely something like it? (IFC)… Expand

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 109 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Jun 21, 2013

Like Someone in Love, is another miracle at close quarters. Its subject is the impossibility of intimacy in the modern world: chewy stuff, to be sure, but Kiarostami explores it with a depth and delicacy that recalls the Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Feb 21, 2013

The greatest fascination is watching these three people when they're planted firmly inside the frame, talking at cross-purposes while trying to perceive one another in the reflected light of their needs and risky assumptions. Read full review

Joe Williams

Mar 14, 2013

The film is so masterfully controlled, we feel like we’ve eavesdropped on something like life. Read full review

Dana Stevens

Feb 16, 2013

Like Someone in Love is a movie that never quite lets you through to the other side of the glass, but it’s dazzling to watch whatever drifts by on the surface. Read full review

Marc Mohan

Mar 18, 2013

Like Someone in Love meanders with intention toward a bittersweet resolution, but then pulls the rug out from under you in a cruelly ambiguous shot. Read full review

Jan 18, 2013

Plays out as a city-mouse rejoinder to the rustic, open-air daydream of Certified Copy, a snarl of thorny free jazz to that film's graceful aria. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jan 18, 2013

It is a beautifully shot, and very nicely acted beginning to something: but finally frustrating. Read full review

SEE ALL 31 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

S_Ali_bt

Jun 22, 2022

I always liked kiarostami.and this movie made me love him.
realy grate performans and storyline.
shots are just perfect.
one of best experienses i ever had.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amirreza1

Oct 18, 2014

A Kiarostami Movie I watch 3 times.
And I like to watch it again.
I like how the movie tells the story. I like the situation. Showing the pains and bad points of life with Poetry atmosphere. Its in top 10 of best movies i watched in 2013

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Jul 18, 2021

There's a message buried in this film. I know that.
But what is it? That I'm not really sure.
The characters and their story are not something I could classify as hollow, or simply dissenting, but they're clearly characters who don't have a very explicit definition. We know very littleThere's a message buried in this film. I know that.
But what is it? That I'm not really sure.

The characters and their story are not something I could classify as hollow, or simply dissenting, but they're clearly characters who don't have a very explicit definition.
We know very little about them, both at the beginning and at the end.

Their motives are not transparent, their expectations and therefore their longings do not seem defined either.

The story is simple in nature, but I can tell you clearly that it's constructed in order for you to interpret it your own way.

I can't deny the director was perhaps very sure about what he was doing and what he was trying to say, but the film he delivers never seems to establish that.
Its own ending so open, so strange and so abrupt is proof enough that Kiarostami wants you to seek your own conclusions.

Whether or not you are right, I think is the least important issue.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

pesho_one

Dec 24, 2014

Again, a weird movie. Not necessarily bad, per say, but definitely not for everyone. I for once, weren't that bothered by the way it was shot. I would qualify it as a bit pretentious, lazy kind of scene development. Things like fixed cameras for too long, unnecessary events that take time,Again, a weird movie. Not necessarily bad, per say, but definitely not for everyone. I for once, weren't that bothered by the way it was shot. I would qualify it as a bit pretentious, lazy kind of scene development. Things like fixed cameras for too long, unnecessary events that take time, prolonged looks and mimics and overall very small total count of scenes. You are going to feel the low budget (scene-wise), but the good news is that the acting is as natural as I can imagine - all the performances are great.

And while it is definitely a slow movie, it somehow succeed to keep me hooked, probably because of the intense dialog and unexpected developments. So, yes, it was entertaining for me, but there is a BUT and it goes like this:

I don't like it as a whole, because it didn't really go anywhere. It happens to make a common mistake, similar to other movies - it hooks you with the questions you are going to ask yourself, but never actually bothers to answer any one of them. 6 out of 10 praising the strong acting and character's intensity.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Lyn

Aug 31, 2014

Why, exactly, does the elderly retired professor request a call girl? Why is he so taken by the girl, who is quite dim and vacant? Why doesn't he ask questions that would help him to actually understand her situation? You may or may not formulate theories to answer these questions, but inWhy, exactly, does the elderly retired professor request a call girl? Why is he so taken by the girl, who is quite dim and vacant? Why doesn't he ask questions that would help him to actually understand her situation? You may or may not formulate theories to answer these questions, but in any case, no one in the movie seems to be "like someone in love."… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Apr 8, 2013

Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami travels to Japan for this film about a young hooker who becomes involved with an old professor. Any movie that starts with a long, inert first scene is gonna be slow, but this one takes the prize. First is a restaurant with 2 locked-down cameras for 10 min.Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami travels to Japan for this film about a young hooker who becomes involved with an old professor. Any movie that starts with a long, inert first scene is gonna be slow, but this one takes the prize. First is a restaurant with 2 locked-down cameras for 10 min. Second is in a cab for 15 min, while listens to 8 voicemail msgs. You get the idea. At one point the old man fell asleep behind the wheel of the car for more than a minute. All sequences take place in real time with static camera and low key performances. I had plenty of time to answer a few emails and not miss a thing (even in subtitles) and may be the only person in Richmond to see this. It does have a pretty surprising shaggy dog ending.… Expand

3 of 8 users found this helpful35

SEE ALL 6 REVIEWS