Japanese Story

Starring: Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, et al.
Director: Sue Brooks

Funny to have the whole theatre to myself, which was probably why they didn't turn the heating on. The film itself was great, a nice contrast to Lost in Translation. Most spectacular was the scenery - around Port Hedland at the beggining, but then moving a day's drive into the desert from Newman. Toni Collette played a hard-nosed computer programmer, pissed off by having to take some Japanese timewaster on a tour in an effort to sell their software. I have to say, that there seemed to be quite a lot of vagueness as to how this connected, but that's a minor objection. As they start off on their journey, there is not much understanding between them. He sees her as loud, thinks she's his official driver and is frequently complaining about how bad she is at it to his superior back home. She sees him as dominating, wasting her time and a complete prick. Of course, this is film code for "they'll get it on", and it is no big surprise that they do, but that's not the end. On the way, he learns to appreciate the huge amount of space in the Pilbarra and develops quite a vocabulary. She hates him, hates the fact he's taken her right out of her orbit and gets her stranded in the desert: not that she had a whole lot going on in her life anyway. But bogged in the desert, he saves the day. Tenderness breaks out. What happens after that is more than a little melodramatic, and for someone who is supposedly a tough Australian women, there are a couple of times she shows a curious lack of knowledge. So its a little flawed, a little slight but I loved it.