Gaijin perspective from malaysia!

[Mitch Cullin]

Dear Mohd Naguib Razak,

Your documentary sounds very interesting.  Best of
luck to you on it.  Hopefully those of us elsewhere
will get a chance to see it.

> p/s Lost in Translation sucks!

I'm actually a bit curious about the disliking of this
film on the KineJapan list, especially since it has
been so highly regarded elsewhere.  What I find most
perplexing is that I didn't find Lost in Translation
to be about Japan at all, or, for that matter, about a
white "Western" perspective of the country (as opposed
to a film like "The Last Samurai").  In fact, it
seemed to me that Tokyo was used as more of a backdrop
and metaphor for loneliness & isolation when
abroad--and, as such, the story could have pretty much
taken place anywhere else.  Had it been set in Paris I
wonder if the response here would be so harsh (the
film strikes me very much as an homage to French New
Wave cinema).  And, as outsiders, is there perhaps a
tendency to make our own personal experiences and
feelings about Japan--or Tokyo--somewhat exclusive and
precious?  Any thoughts?

Mitch

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Most recent propaganda (updated when I remember):
http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/tidecull.htm
http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=articleArchive&articleId=CA70934&display=searchResults&stt=001
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2000-11-10/books_set2.html
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24lewist.html
http://www.thepermanentpress.com/bookdisp.ihtml?id=303
http://www.fetchbook.info/Mitch_Cullin.html
http://www.corpse.org/issue_8/reviews/phelan.htm
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020613/242/d11q6.html
http://generationrice.com/index.phtml?talk=peterichang_1
http://www.minsky.com/branches.htm

"As the movie industry becomes more like the merchandising industry, the book business becomes more like the movie industry.  There's more pressure.  I think it's very difficult to be a young writer today.  I fear that young writers, after one or two books, will disappear the way young film directors do."  --Don DeLillo