AUSTRALIAN CINEMA (H231)

 

Assignment 2. Critical Review and Bibliography

 

Japanese Story (2003)

 

By Angela Pearce

 

“Some stories can change your life.”

 

Japanese story

A Gecko Films Production

 

PART ONE

 

Cast

 

Sandy                                                             Toni Collette

Tachibana Hiromitsu                                   Gotaro Tsunashima

Bill Baird                                                       Mathew Dyktynsky

Mum                                                               Lynette Curran

Yukiko Hiromitsu                                        Yumiko Tanaka

Jackie                                                             Kate Atkinson

Jimmy Smithers                                           Bill Young

Bloke in row boat                                         Reg Evans

James                                                             George Shevtsov

Jane                                                                Justine Clarke

Fraser                                                             Igor Sas

Bloke                                                              Mike Frencham

Richards                                                         John Howard

Barman                                                          Phil Bennett

Petrol bloke                                                   Heath Bergersen

Canteen worker                                            Jules Hutchison

Japanese translator                                      Kuni Hashimoto

Watson                                                           Mark McAullay

Tom Goodwin                                                Greg McNeill

Congo man                                                    Stephen Parcin

Karaoke singer                                             Dean Vince

Tony                                                               Peter Weldo

Sandy stand in                                              Jacqueline Fairfax

Hiromitsu stand in                                       Jimmy Jack

Hiromitsu’s children           in photo                     Koji Kioka

Nanami Kioka

 

Crew

Director                                                         Sue Brooks

Writer                                                            Alison Tilson

Producer                                                        Sue Maslin

Cinematographer                                         Ian Baker

Camera Operator                                         Mark Goellnicht

Art director                                                    Kelvin Sexton

Composer                                                      Elizabeth Drake

Production designer                                     Paddy Reardon

Costume Designer                                       Margot Wilson

Editor                                                 Jill Bilcock

Casting                                                          Dina Mann

 

Running Time

 

106 minutes

 

Film locations

 

The Pilbara Desert, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

 

Release dates

 

Unfortunately, finding exact cinema release dates for the film in Australia, the USA and the UK proves to be difficult.

 

Australia

 Cinema                     2003

 Video                         April 14th, 2004

 

USA (Los Angeles)

 Cinema                     December 31st, 2003

 

Box Office Figures

 

Japanese Story was the biggest grossing Australian film of 2003 and is ranked 40th from top Australian films at the box office from 1966 to December 2003.

 

Worldwide Gross

 $3, 733, 014

 

 

Bibliographic details of reviews

 

There are a multitude of reviews available on the internet about the film. They come from a variety of sources including newspapers, magazines and television presenters. Furthermore, several sites gave users the opportunity to submit their own reviews. The chance to read what the ‘average Joe’ thinks about the film, as opposed to what someone who is getting paid to write the review thinks, results in a very refreshing and broad understanding about the film’s reception from a greater number of the public.

 

Some samples of reviews are as follows

 

****1/2

“…a beautifully nuanced, tremendously moving portrait of compassion and respect. It’s a standout performance from Toni Collette, she just keeps on getting better and better and Gotaro Tsunashima is equally good…After a year of disappointing films from Australia in cinemas, disappointing certainly in terms of audience appeal, Japanese Story soars to a great height. It’s not to be missed.”

-SBS Movie Show

 

“has an air of freshness…never predictable…the film does eventually get there and in a way that is deeply satisfying. Collette’s performance is one of her best yet: her ability to play women going over the falls is terrifying.”

-Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald

 

“A cross-cultural love story, Japanese Story develops into a powerfully emotional experience thanks to a career best performance by Toni Collette…Collette comes into her own, dominating the film with a bold, intelligent and very physical performance.”

-David Stratten, Variety

 

More reviews can be obtained from the following sites:

 

►http://www.japanesestory.com/

►http://www.japanesestory.com.au/

►http://imdb.com/title/tt0304229

►http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/80001L3LUO/104-7660911-5434357?v=glance

►http://www.movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&ci=info&id=1808486768

►http;//www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/19/1063625206042.html?from=storyline

►http;//www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/0/7bd990dd40853aec88256e02000c9c87?OpenDocument

►http;//movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/j/japanesestory.html.

►http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=286714

►http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/March/19/style/stories/05style.htm

►http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?c=3427&5=1

►http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0116/p16503-almo.html

►http://movies.go.com/movies/j/japanesestory.2003/

 

Bibliography of interviews

 

I was only able to locate two sites that contained interviews with the director, writer and producer of the film. The interviews dealt thoroughly with the making of the film from its conception, to choosing actors and locations and numerous obstacles that had to be overcome when filming. The sites are as follows:

 

►http://www.japanesestory.com/

►http://www.japanesestory.com.au/

 

Awards

 

Australian Film Institute

 

Best actress in a leading role                      Toni Collette

Best cinematography                                   Ian Baker

Best direction                                                            Sue Brooks

Best editing                                                   Jill Bilcock

Best film                                                        Sue Maslin

                                                                        Sue Brooks

                                                                        Alison Tilson

Best sound                                                     Livia Ruzic

                                                                        Peter Grace

                                                                        Peter D. Smith

 

Film Critics Circle of Australian Awards

 

Best Female Actor                                        Toni Collette

Best cinematographer                                  Ian Baker

Best direction                                                            Sue Brooks

Best Film

Best Music score                                           Elizabeth Drake

 

Australian Writer’s Guild

 

Awgie Award-Original Feature Film         Alison Tilson

 

If Awards

 

Best Actress                                                   Toni Collette

Best cinematography                                   Ian Baker

Best direction                                                            Sue Brooks

Best Feature Film

Bangkok Film Festival

 

Golden Kinnaree Award-Best Film                       Sue Brooks

 

Details of the film’s online presence in the web literature

 

Finding information about the film on the internet was extremely easy as the film is so recent. The only information that was not so easy to find were the film’s exact release dates and box office takings in Australia and other countries. Most of the sites were also simple to navigate. The site http://japanesestory.com.au/ was the most helpful as it contained the complete plot synopsis, news about the film, reviews, interviews with the makers and photos. Reviews from both domestic and overseas newspapers and magazines were also abundant and I was particularly impressed with the initiative of certain sites to give its users an opportunity to have their views exposed. Personal information about the makers and the actors was also available, including complete actor filmographies.

 

Details of collecting information

 

The first place I began looking for information about the film was both the opening and closing credits. This gave me the most comprehensive list of its cast and crew and which locations had been used in the movie. The second place I then looked was the internet. This is mostly because the film is so recent and I knew the internet would be a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips. I simply typed in ‘japanese story’ and in an instant I had achieved more than 2,000 results from my search. I made my way down the list of sites containing information and extracted what was relevant to the assignment. This included interviews and reviews of the movie and information on the cast and crew. However, I was unable to find exact release dates, only that the production year was 2003. I then sought out box office figures from the Australian Film Commission at http://afc.gov.au but it was frustrating to navigate and find the information I needed. Information on earlier Australian films such as Crocodile Dundee, Strictly Ballroom and Babe was all there but I feel because Japanese Story is so recent it will take a while to finalise its figures. Lastly, I browsed the Murdoch Library online but found no useful information.

 

PART TWO

 

Critical Review of the Film and its Literature

 

Plot, synopsis and personal commentary

 

The film Japanese Story is a tale about Sandy, a feisty geologist, and Hiromitsu, a Japanese businessman, who strike up a transitory friendship amid the backdrop of outback Western Australia. The film concentrates on these two characters and the shared experience that emphatically changes both of them.

 

The film opens with Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) driving alone in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. He loads a Japanese compact disc into the car stereo as if to demonstrate the notion that he feels out of place. He is on his way to meet with Sandy (Toni Collette) whose boss has made her escort him around various mine sites. She clearly does not want to do this and is, in fact, rankled by it. However, because Sandy is the owner of a software company specialising in geological maps, she feels that by accepting the assignment she will have a chance to get Hiromitsu’s business. From the moment they meet Sandy takes a definite dislike to Hiromitsu. This is shown when Sandy becomes irritated as Hiromitsu stands by while she hauls his obviously heavy suitcase into her 4WD. The incident clearly points out that Hiromitsu has misogynistic tendencies or at the very least, he sees women as the inferior gender.

 

The film up until the halfway point is fairly prosaic and linear. When their vehicle bogs in the desert however, things begin to change between the two of them. Faced with the possibility of death under the blistering heat of the Australian sun a bond starts to form. A chemistry develops; Hiromitsu becomes a gentleman and Sandy begins to smooth out the rough edges of her personality. However, while stopping for petrol at a local station, Sandy notices that there is a picture in Hiromitsu’s wallet showing a family; a wife and two children. This perturbs Collette’s character as they have already made love. Hiromitsu then confesses to Sandy that the family is his. As she reaches for a cigarette Hiromitsu prevents her from having one, telling her that smoking is bad for her. Through this simple act Hiromitsu demonstrates a concern and love for Sandy.

 

Hiromitsu and Sandy eventually take a trip to a billabong. It is a beautiful and tranquil oasis in the middle of the desert. However, it does not remain tranquil for long. Sandy excitedly races into the water and Hiromitsu follows but upon doing so he drowns as he obviously cannot swim. This then poses the question: why did he go into the water? The most likely explanation is that Hiromitsu committed suicide. I think he does this because he cannot reconcile the conflict he feels in his life, the emancipated nature of his new relationship possibly engendering a sense of guilt within him.

 

The last part of the film concerns itself with denouement. This unfortunately, is what separates the film from being good as opposed to great. This portion seems overlong and perhaps unnecessary given that the film aspires to be a celebration of life. In the beginning we meet these two not very likeable characters: Hiromitsu is preoccupied with business and Sandy is extremely rough edged and yet they manage to find beauty in each other. The last part of the film also preoccupies itself too much with the death of Hiromitsu.. What is interesting to see however, is that Toni Collette’s grief-stricken Sandy is ultimately in sharp contrast to the character that has emerged over the first half of the film. It is almost as if the character evolves and then disowns itself.

 

Other than plot mechanics, the acting is faithful and inspired, with both characters wonderfully rendered. Both Collette and Tsunashima are at once believable and multi-dimensional. It is in fact that the characters drive the film instead of merely being part of it, that the story ultimately succeeds.

 

The film also contains some magnificent photography, with the outback landscape itself essentially becoming a third character. It serves to provide a blanket in which the characters can lose themselves in and is a powerful reminder of the inconsequentiality of human existence.

 

Prior and subsequent work of cast and crew

 

Japanese Story can attribute its success to its talented cast and crewmembers that have previously achieved recognition and success in their fields

 

Toni Collette (Sandy)

 

Collette has a host of films under her belt including Muriel’s Wedding which she won the Australian Film Institue award for Best Performance by an Actress in 1994, The Sixth Sense which she received an Oscar nomination for and About a Boy which also saw her receiving a BAFTA nomination, just to name a few. Other credits include Changing Lanes, Shaft, Clockwatchers, Emma and Dinner with Friends. She continues to go from strength to strength with her performances., whether they be in big budget or low budget films, She consistently win over her audience resulting in a plethora of glowing reviews and a high profile.

 

Gotaro Tsunashima (Hiromitsu)

 

Tsunashima played Lieutenant Aso in the award winning six part series Changi, written by John Doyle and produced by A.B.C T.V (Australia). After completing Japanese Story he immediately began work on the Miramax feature film The Great Raid, playing a Japanese military secret police detective. Most of his work has been in his native Japan but he is increasingly in demand overseas for his unmistakable talent.

 

Sue Brooks (Director)

 

Brooks won the Greater Union Award for Best Short Fiction for her debut film The Drover’s Wife. At the 1989 Sydney International Film Festival her short film An Ordinary Woman was the Best General Section winner. Furthermore, she won a Golden Alexander Award for Best Feature Film in 1997 with Road to Nhil at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. She has also worked on the hit series SeaChange, starring Sigrid Thorton.

 

Sue Maslin (Producer)

 

Maslin is an independent television and film producer. She previously worked with Brooks on Road to Nhil and other credits include The Highest Court, and Mr Neall is Entitled to be an Agitator. Her 1998 documentary The Edge of the Possible was awarded the Golden Plaque for Television Documentary at the Chicago Film Festival.

 

Alison Tilson (Writer)

 

Tilson’s credits as a writer include being the co-author of Frictions: an Anthology of Fiction by Women, Raw FM and Marshall Law. She was also script editor for the acclaimed telemovie Waiting at the Royal and Rabbit Proof Fence, starring Kenneth Branagh.

 

Ian Baker (Cinematographer)

 

Baker has worked with many high profile actresses included Meryl Streep, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jamie Lee Curtis. He works steadily in the industry, often being director Fred Shepisi’s preferred cinematographer. Recently he worked on It Runs in the family starring father and son, Michael and Kirk Douglas.

 

Circumstances of production

Japanese Story may never have come to life if it were not for a meeting in a Melbourne café several years ago between Sharon Connolly of Film Australia and writer Alison Tilson. Connolly had asked Tilson if she would be interested in writing a script for a film about a cross-cultural relationship involving a Japanese man and Australian woman. Connolly herself was particularly fascinated by what tensions would arise from such a relationship but to her disappointment, Tilson  replied that it was not something she would like to write about. However, just before the two were about to leave the café Connolly turned to Tilson and simply said, “Well it’s a pity you didn’t want to write it because I just had this amazing vision of a Japanese guy driving alone through the desert. Just imagine-you’d be wondering why he was there and what he was doing.” Tilson was suddenly taken by the image and fortunately changed her mind!

 

The team of writer Alison Tilson, director Sue Brooks and producer Sue Maslin was soon assembled. Their first choice for the role of Sandy was Toni Collette but given her prestigious profile they thought this to be unlikely but decided to send her the script anyway. Expecting to receive a rejection in a few weeks, they were elated to hear from Collette herself just days later. Collette loved the script and was keen to come on board.

 

The Pilbara is a hauntingly beautiful desert in Western Australia and it was this location that Tilson believed would provide the best backdrop for the film. She said in an interview, “The film is about surfaces and what lies beneath them. Sandy is a geologist constantly looking at surfaces. The Pilbara landscape is well known for the richness of its depths…there is an incredible complexity just below the surface.” It was suggested that the film however, be made in New South Wales but Tilson would not hear of it. The task then of finding a billabong suitable for filming the last part of the movie where Hiromitsu commits suicide in itself was not easy. It involved many trips with Aboriginal elders to find the perfect one. On top of this, producer Sue Maslin had to gain permission to film in Newman at BHP, the largest iron ore mine in the Southern Hemisphere, which is a massive 5.5km x 1.5km hole in the ground. Fortunately, when the people at BHP saw that Maslin was serious they agreed and even provided blasts especially for the film.

 

Circumstances of release and the general position of Australian film and its value

 

I was unable to find the exact box office figures for Japanese story. I was also unable to find the budget for the film to discover whether or not it had made a loss. It is obvious to see however, that it is a character driven story rather than a spectacular special effects bonanza that relies on superficial elements to satisfy an audience.

 

It is undeniable that Japanese Story did do extremely well in terms of its overall reception and this can be seen when examining the reviews it received from a broad public spectrum. These reviews also help to give an idea about the general position of Australian film and its value. To begin with, an overwhelming amount of positive reviews came from Australian sources. This helps us to see that at the very least, Australian films are receiving some domestic support because as a nation we have become increasingly conditioned to accept big budget films from overseas rather than what we produce ourselves. I believe however, that it would be fair to say that the fact Toni Collette is an Australian actress with a prestigious international profile would have had something to do with the film’s internal support because as a nation we are proud of her.

 

Most of the negative reviews I came across came from the US. A.O Scott from The New York Times felt the film was, “Too thin for its length” but that Toni Collette was, “more than capable of carrying a movie.” Another review (author unknown) said, “The attraction of two people from wildly differing cultures is not the freshest premise to come down the pike, and the main novelty of Japanese Story appears to be its setting in Australia’s Pilbara Desert”. While the landscape is a characteristic that serves to provide Australian film with some identity, both reviews highlight the fact that Australian cinema is consistently criticised as being inferior, namely by US sources. It is well known that unlike Hollywood, Australia does not have anywhere near the type of finance available for film projects and this is essentially because at the end of the 1980’s Australia faced an economic recession. Economic rationalists could not justify support for the Australian film industry and subsequently, policies were implemented that made investing in Australian films less attractive. This in turn obliterated Australia’s capacity to produce big budget films.

 

One positive review I found that did come from a US publication was a critique by Catherine Graham from Santa Cruz Sentinel who said Japanese Story was, “an intelligent film about two characters in the process of learning, becoming and transforming. Japanese Story is a rare treat”. This review provides a flickering of hope for the Australian film industry that has, for the past several years, been criticised internally and externally with failing to consistently produce quality films. Without adequate finance, Australia has had to make do with producing films that can be made locally to cut costs and character driven storylines rather than expensive aesthetics.

 

Japanese Story was nominated for and received numerous awards both nationally and internationally and this gives an indication as to the state and value of Australian film. Rama Venkatasawmy in The Hybridity of Filmmaking in Australian National Cinema Formulating a Cinematic Post-diaspora (1996) says that, “the presence of so many Australian films at Cannes in 1996 and the increasing transnational production of films on the Gold Coast are signs of vitality and good health which cannot be ignored.” As previously stated, overall the film ranks 40th from the top Australian films at the box office since 1966 to December 2003.

 

Japanese Story in relation to Australian cinema

 

While English is the most widely spoken language in the world, the fact that Australian cinema is a medium-sized English language cinema, meaning it produces films for the English speaking market, actually impedes international trading. Australia must compete with films from the US and Britain and therefore Australian cinema finds itself in a minority. Tom O’Reagan in Australian National Cinema (1996) says that, “Australian filmmakers need to provide inventive solutions to being on the margins of the more dominant film cultures of the US, UK and continental Europe.”

 

To nurture the appeal of Australian film to overseas markets, the 1989 multicultural policy was implemented. It encouraged universal narratives and multicultural content within Australian films. Japanese Story is an example of an Australian drama as it explores the human condition. The utilisation of a landscape unique to Australia such as that of the Pilbara is also a characteristic of Australian film as it ultimately motivates the story. Simultaneously however, it is also definitely a tale that is able to translate cross-culturally. Furthermore, Venkatasawmy (1996) states that, “Australian filmmaking is perpetually “condemned” to hybridise, to concoct mixtures of local and foreign filmic ingredients in order to achieve both critical and commercial success.” It is evident that Japanese Story contains some characteristics of a Japanese tragedy, namely in the way it preoccupies itself with Hiromitsu’s death.