Like Someone in Love
A mysterious Tokyo encounter entwines a young escort, an elderly academic, and a jealous boyfriend in a quietly destabilizing study of intimacy and deception.
Overview
A poignant exploration of fleeting connections and hidden lives unfolds in the heart of Tokyo.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- mysterious
- intimate
- quiet evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Kiarostami’s mysterious, reflective mood, precise cinematography, flowing editing, and melancholy restraint.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The relationships among Akiko, Takashi, and Noriaki are revealed through oblique hints rather than explicit exposition.
Long, flowing passages and hard-focused cinematography emphasize everyday encounters, travel, and waiting.
Akiko’s interactions with Takashi and Noriaki are shaped by concealment, role-playing, and mistaken assumptions.
The film’s emotional and narrative tensions remain deliberately unsettled rather than conclusively explained.
Films like Like Someone in Love, and why
Certified Copy
shared reflective ambiguity, restrained performances, and intimate human encounters
The Past
shared slow-burning drama, oblique storytelling, and emotionally elusive relationships
The Passenger
shared minimalist realism, urban alienation, and understated moral tension
Drive My Car
shared contemplative pacing, ambiguous interpersonal dynamics, and observational filmmaking
Movie Details
- Director
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Release Date
- 2012-09-15
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (279)
Cast
- Rin Takanashi
- Tadashi Okuno
- Ryo Kase
- Denden
- Ryota Nakanishi
- Reiko Mori
- Kaneko Kubota
- Mihoko Suzuki
- Hiroyuki Kishi
- Koichi Ohori
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Like Someone in Love about?
- A mysterious Tokyo encounter entwines a young escort, an elderly academic, and a jealous boyfriend in a quietly destabilizing study of intimacy and deception.
- What is Like Someone in Love like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Like Someone in Love as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Like Someone in Love violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Like Someone in Love as mild.
- What did critics think of Like Someone in Love?
- Critics broadly praised Kiarostami’s mysterious, reflective mood, precise cinematography, flowing editing, and melancholy restraint.
- Which films are like Like Someone in Love?
- Films with a similar feel include Certified Copy, The Past, The Passenger, and Drive My Car.
- How long is Like Someone in Love?
- Like Someone in Love runs 109 minutes.
- Where can I watch Like Someone in Love?
- In United States, Like Someone in Love streams on Philo.
