Last Bill Translation

Sun Dec 28 08:51:36 EST 2003

Jasper commented that KILL BILL has "under-performed" at the Japanese box office. Yes and no. Gaga initially expected it to reach the Y3.0 billion mark, but now projects Y2.5 billion ($23 million). This compares with Y15.0 billion for BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN 2, Y11.0 billion for THE MATRIX RELOADED and Y3.0 billion for HERO. 

On the other hand, the $23 million Japan take is about one-third the US gross. Not bad for a film that opened on about 300 screens in Japan, versus 3,100 in the US. 

Gio Fazio and I wrote dueling reviews for THE JAPAN TIMES about KILL BILL, with him taking the negative and me the positive side. Here's a link to my review: 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20031029a2.htm 

and to Gio's:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20031029a1.htm

I thought KB was more Miike lite than anything else -- that is, funny in a gory sort of way. 

LAST SAMURAI is also going great guns at the Japanese box office -- after its second week on release it topped the Kogyo Tsushin nine-major-cities chart, handily beating FINDING NEMO. Also, in a cinema exit survey of 126 filmgoers conducted by Pia magazine for its year-end issue, TLS garnered a 92.9 rating, out of a possible 100. This compares with 89.5 for FINDING NEMO.  The only film to score higher, with 94.4, was KISARAZU CAT'S EYE, a comedy based on a TBS show that has become one of the surprise hits of the year. 

Here's a link to my JT review of the film:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20031224a3.htm

I agree with Jasper that BATTLE ROYALE 2 was one of the year's clunkers. It finished with Y2.0 billion, compared to Y3.11 billion for BATTLE ROYALE. Not great given all the publicity from the mid-shoot death of Kinji Fukasaku and the passing of the directorial torch to his son. 

Here's a link to my 2003 best ten list for the JT (scroll down):

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20031224a1.htm

My number one film was VIBRATOR, which is getting more attention now that its star, Terajima Shinobu, is scooping all the local best actress prizes.  

Happy new year and yoi otoshi o.

Mark Schilling
schill at gol.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: J.sharp 
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
  Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:24 PM
  Subject: Re: Last Bill Translation

  Hope everyone is enjoying the festive season.

  I have to confess out of the three I have only caught KILL BILL so far, which I personally thought was utter drivel. I can understand what Tarantino was trying to do, and undoubtedly the film suffered at the hands of Weinstein's suggestion to split it into two parts. Ultimately however, whereas I can accept that Tarantino's world exists completely inside of the frame of reference of cinema, his vision is far less compelling than the films he continuously references. I thought the film was a bore, and remained unengaged throughout. A slightly controversial view, perhaps, but one that appears to have been shared by Japanese audiences. The film has rather under-performed at the Japanese box office (and across the rest of Asia?), despite the fortune spent on promotion and the soundtrack permanently spinning every time I went to Tsutaya.

  As for LAST SAMURAI, it seems to be going down fairly well over here. One of my students mentioned that though the story played loose with history, it captured the Japanese aesthetic and state of mind nicely - not sure entirely what he meant, as he wasn't such a high-level speaker, but the overall opinion with all Japanese people I have spoken to seems to be more positive than that of foreign audiences. I've not felt any major pull to see if Tom Cruise is a worthy successor to Richard Chamberlain, but my curiosity has been somewhat piqued, and if it attracts more people to Japanese culture then that can't be a bad thing. 

  As for LOST IN TRANSLATION, I did enjoy VIRGIN SUICIDES and I think that Coppola is an interesting director, so though I haven't seen it yet, I'm very interested and won't be going into it with the expectation that the film is "about" Japan.

  On the subject of foreign portrayals of Japan, one film that hasn't been brought up is a French one, the adaptation of Belgian novelist Amelie Nothomb's STUPEURS ET TREMBLEMENTS (which translates rather inelegantly as "Fear and Tremblings"). I'm not sure what sort of distribution this has had outside of France, but it deals with Nothomb's autobiographical account of a year spent working as an interpreter at a large Japanese trading company, and via a number of faux-pas, her descent to the lowly ranks of toilet cleaner. I caught this at Puchon this year, and the Korean's seemed to be lapping up the stereotypical portrayal of the stiff, authoritarian Japanese office hierarchy, but I can't imagine it going down too well here in Japan. Admittedly, I found the movie rather more enjoyable than the book, and it was good to see familiar character actors such as Taro Suwa in small roles in films made outside of Japan, but when it comes to the facile and tasteless scene in which Nothomb and her strict, bitchy boss reach a mutual understanding in the ladies toilet laid down to the music from MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE, it seemed clear which side of the East-West divide this film was coming from. Anyone else seen it?

  As for Japanese film, I agree that this year has not turned out any real masterpieces - Kurosawa's BRIGHT FUTURE and Kawase's SHARA were probably the two biggest disappointments for me, and dare I dredge up the memory once more, BLUE (which I've subsequently heard many Japanese critics speak very highly of). At the same time, when I think harder, there's actually been a huge number of films that fit into the good-but-not-excellent category. Despite the usual ambivalence to plot and pacing that we've come to expect from Japanese film recently, NO ONE'S ARK was a wonderful and amusing character study, and NINE SOULS was also impressive. ZATOICHI, whilst as shallow as a puddle, was at least a very pretty puddle and a welcome return to form for Kitano. The tap-dancing finale was exquisite.

  My own personal favourite this year from Japan had to be Yutaka Tsuchiya's PEEP "TV" SHOW, which for all its faults, was thought-provoking and funny and proves what can be achieved on a miniscule Do-It-Yourself budget. I urge all festival programmers to take a look at this ASAP. 

  Biggest bomb of the year, BATTLE ROYALE 2, though it will be interesting to see how the film fares on its European release in the early part of next year.

  For now, wishing everyone all the best for the coming year, and a big thank you to everyone out there doing their best against the odds to promote Japanese cinema, especially to the organisers and staff of FilmEx and Yamagata, whose work formed the cinematic highlights of this year for me, and to Aaron and Mark for overseeing this essential mailing list. Here's Looking forward to many more intelligent and informative discussions over the course of 2004.

  Best,

  Jasper Sharp

  Midnight Eye: The Latest And Best in Japanese Cinema

  www.midnighteye.com

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