Film Review: Japanese Story (Sue Brooks, 2003)

Japanese Story is Sue Brooks’ 2003 romantic drama about an unlikely relationship between an Aussie geologist in Western Australia and a businessman from Japan. The film is laden with all the well known and cliché elements that make up that typical cross cultural romantic story – initial resentment between the two culturally distinct characters, text book plot twist (this time their car gets stuck in the desert earth) that leaves the two stuck together in none other than a sticky situation, and the ensuing romance between the most unlikely pair of individuals. Its plot is painfully predictable, driven by narrative devices nicked from a filmmaking 101 handbook and characters with the most stereotypical characteristics imaginable. Its message is an interesting one, tying together erratic and yet fragile human emotions with the brutality of nature. It culminates quite fittingly to an emotionally charged denouement where Toni Collette’s character Sandy is overwhelmed by her lover’s sudden death and her realisation of the cruel fact that her world would not accept his presence despite boasting itself as one that has ‘so much space and yet so few people’.  The arrival of his widow teases her with that impenetrable side of the world that she may never be a part of but at the same time she is made aware of the fact that despite their differences, they share the same human emotions of sadness and remorse, the same feelings of loss and love. The film is not all that bad, in fact, minus the mentioned stereotypical portrayal of characters and cliché plot devices, it is not bad at all. Its contextual meaning and intended message is worthy of praise as much as it is of more in depth analysis. Its stunning cinematography that blends character and landscape with utter brilliance, its fusion of oriental and western harmonies that make up a truly beautiful and immersive soundtrack and Collette’s commendable performance are all enough to provide the film with potential to strike and puncture the very depths of its viewers’ emotions and, dare I say, heart. But sadly as it turns out, the combination of a cheesy, predictable storyline and over the top shallow, stereotypical characters is one guilty of being just too much of an irritating distraction, leaving no more than a few tickles on the surface of what would otherwise be a punctured gut.