kevinmontemayor89
Japanese Story is an interesting portrayal of how people can find oneself in unlikely situations. But the main ending point will confuse people on why someone needs to die for the screen writers to convey their points across to their audiences. And do the Japanese men commonly take rumspringas to Australia to sow their wild oats with Aussie women in order to become a better husband and father. This comment comes from the note Hiromitsu leaves for Sandy summing up how she and the desert landscape made him a better person. His wife could sense more than just a business trip occurs out in the nothingness of the desert. I feel like it's a nice prequel to Hall Pass but without the happy ending like what happened to Owen Wilson's character. Hiromitsu scored in Australia in order to put with his boring life in Japan for the rest of his days. I feel the screenplay failed in finding a less abrupt way to causally having Hiromitsu fly off into the eastern sunset and settled for an easy way out in his death.
Atreyu_II
This is a pretty poor film. It doesn't captivate much. Its story is flawed. The scenario is a mix of stunning Australian landscape and crude American background. The acting by Gotaro Tsunashima is okay as Hiromitsu, but Toni Collette's acting as Sandy is inferior in comparison to her acting in 'The Sixth Sense'. There ain't no true chemistry between the lead actors, even when they forgot all about their mutual hate and fell in love with each other.The only funnier moments are whenever the Japanese guy is saying things about Sandy on the telephone in Japanese so that she doesn't have a clue of what he is saying.The swimming scene confused me because I didn't get how the Japanese guy died. I mean, she jumped in perfectly well and he just died? And how did he get that scratch.
kenjha
A Japanese businessman visits Australia and is given a tour of the land by a geologist, although they can't stand each other from the get go. Although it's not clear where the story is going, it becomes engaging as the relationship develops between the Japanese man and the Australian woman despite their cultural differences. About half way through the film, however, a random event takes place that totally changes the mood and direction of the movie. From that point on it just rambles aimlessly before finishing with a whimper. The two halves are like watching two different movies. It's just an odd script. Collette is fine as usual, as is Tsunashima.
secondtake
Japanese Story (2003)Toni Collette is such a natural on screen, ranging from bemused to chagrined with a single change in her face, and seeming so vividly present in every scene, she almost makes this movie work. Her male counterpart, little known Japanese actor Gotaro Tsunashima, is meant to be an uptight and restrained contrast, but he may take that intention the wrong way, making his character bland on screen. That the two have to first dislike each other, and then not dislike each other very much, depends on some kind of magic between the actors, or characters, which just doesn't exist.And then there is the plot. On paper it even looks a bit thin--two young people arrive on a mining island in the Pacific for different reasons (one from Australia, the other from Japan), and after butting cultural heads a bit, they head off in their Land Cruiser to an isolated part of the barren landscape. So far we follow. But the plot depends on them getting stranded out there, very far from everything (but perplexingly still in cell phone range!), and so the writers concoct some kind of need, which isn't really clear to me, to drive farther, mostly because he tells her to. And they do get stranded.And then they get stuck. Oh, right. And they spend the night together, he rises out of his selfish haze, they become lovers, and then, in a tropical paradise part of the coast, tragedy strikes. And there is the necessary coming to terms with all the repercussions. The final, long long shot of Collette in the airport is, by this point, utter hedonism on the director's part, and it dulls an already dragging film.You might be able to take in the unusual setting for the film, and enjoy Collette's strengths, and make it through okay.
