Last Bill Translation

[M Arnold]

Thanks to everyone for trying to get discussion moving again. It's been 
disappointing to see list activity drop off as it has. It was a busy year 
all around--hard enough to watch films to begin with--but somehow I managed 
to catch these three and I absorbed them all with great interest.

I generally agree with Jonathan Crow's and Mark Mays' reactions to Lost in 
Translation. I liked the acting, much of the photography, the editing and 
the general scenario a lot (even though the budding relationship struck me 
as a little... optimistic), but this interesting picture of two lonely upper 
class Americans was made at the expense of forwarding a pretty condescending 
picture of Japan. To be honest, I was tempted to enjoy it. I'd guess that 
those of us with experience in Japan other than being stranded “tourists” 
may have the advantage of putting the story in some sort of context and 
seeing through the dumb jokes. I don’t know if that’s true for most viewers 
(or the director) though. It was interesting that most of the comments I 
heard and read focused on the "reality" of what was shown. "I saw the same 
intersection in Gamera!" "It was just like the one week I spent in Tokyo!" 
or “Japanese women are really like that!” and so on. (The worst of this 
involved a few audience members at my screening who had to laugh louder than 
anyone else to prove that they really _understood_ all the cultural 
in-jokes, recognized the different city districts and even knew the rock 
bands playing on the soundtrack.) I couldn’t buy it. As far as fiction goes 
it was too stereotypical, and as far as reality goes it reminded me more of 
experiences I’ve had at lonely weekly-rate hotels in The Homeland. Other 
recent films have pondered similar feelings without relying on The Orient. 
So when and why did _Japan_ get lost in translation? For whatever reason it 
must have struck a chord somewhere--after 3+ months the film is still 
playing in Ann Arbor.

I thought Kill Bill was interesting in that it didn't try to impose the same 
value of "reality" on its imaginary Asia. Race and nationality were 
flattened and foregrounded into a set of cinematic clichés. At the same 
time, these clichés had “agency” in the story (whatever that means!) and 
they were challenged and pitted against each other to duke it out. The 
soundstage "Japan" was something the characters reacted to and interacted 
with throughout the film. After sitting through all the jokes about bad 
English pronunciation and traditionally odd Japanese customs with two 
frustrated, isolated characters who simply waited for the world to 
understand them, it was refreshing to see Thurman and Liu trying to 
communicate outside of their designated "cultures."

I saw The Last Samurai a week ago. Ignoring the uncomplicated picture of 
history, a few parts left me wondering. One was the sequence at the end of 
the battle with all the American-trained soldiers bowing towards the field 
of dead samurai. Were they bowing to Katsumoto or Algren? Another was the 
scene when the Meiji emperor, after being convinced by Algren’s plea, 
decides he is "so sorry" to have to turn down the treaty with the Americans. 
Algren rescues Japanese tradition by becoming Japanese tradition. “Japan” 
becomes the solution to the hero’s imperial guilt for slaughtering innocent 
Native Americans. This wasn't as bad as I expected. I have to admit I kind 
of enjoyed the masochistic macho camaraderie between Cruise, Watanabe Ken 
and Sanada Hiroyuki (probably thanks to my Takakura Ken-heavy diet this 
year). It was especially entertaining watching Sanada in a role that allowed 
him to overact slightly less than usual.

Can anyone describe the critical reactions to these films in Japan?

Did people here see any memorable Japanese films this year?

Michael Arnold

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