Japanese Story...

I had watched Japanese Story directed by sue brooks after the Chinese new year break. It is part of my course including the three novels which are boy, Tales of childhood, Desert flower and Falling leaves. I watched it in the tutorial room with my classmate and also with the other class, architecture 2. Mr. derrick was also there, sat in front of the class, prepared to cut some scenes that were certainly not suitable for us although some of us were quite disappointed of his action, hahaha……

My first impression about this movie, it is boring and totally not my cup of tea, but I realize that I could not expect more than that as it was for the study purpose instead of for entertainment. At first, by looking at the title I thought it was a story about Japanese culture or something that were related with Japan and it was. But to be more precise, it was about the two cultures, Australia and Japan which the the main characters were, Toni Colette act as Sandy Edwards and Gotaro Tsunashima as Tachibana Hiromitsu, as a result of different culture both of them are visibly repulsed by each other.

From this film I learned about Japanese as well as Australian cultures. When Tachibana met Sandy at the airport, she thought Sandy was his hired driver thus; he treated her as such, waiting her to carry his luggage and also sat at the back of the car. From the action, of course people will judge him badly. But we could not blame him as it was his culture. Same goes to Tachibana, Sandy’s attitudes certainly contradict with the woman in his custom, very rough, out-spoken and smokes a lot. This contributed to an awkward situation between them.

What the surprise was their relationship have changed after the car had being stuck in the sand at Pilbara Desert, far from help, only both of them there, they became to know each other better, finding the hidden beauty in themselves and fell in love. The suspend began when Tachibana suddenly died, I could not forget about the scene, I laugh when Sandy tried to call Tachibana after he jumped into the river as I thought he just wanted to make a joke. For me it was really ridiculous if he died just like that and then I realize that the death was not a fake, I am really shocked. So disappointed as I could not feel sad, my concentration has lose on that part. I started to think the reason of his death, why was he died actually, was it drowned?? I only knew the real reason at the end of the story. It was because he dived in the shallow water, so unbelievable and unexpected.

In my point of view, this film set up the culture-clash theme, very dull but it is good to watch as it give a lot of moral values to the viewers, what have my lecturer told to the students, judging people by just their ethnicity is shallow and likely to be wrong. The other one is recognizing when we are doing something that will cause hurt others and being able to stop. I also admire Toni Colette action, she has given a good performance, and she successfully played a role as a main character.