Gaijin perspective from malaysia!

[Mark Mays]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "=%iso-8859-1%q?naguib=5Frazak?=" <naguib_razak at yahoo.com>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 11:57 PM
Subject: Re: Gaijin perspective from malaysia!


> What i don't understand then is why the film magazines
> and critics appear to be lapping up to this film. The
> Oscars might be excused for its typical opportunism
> but what i had read in publications and on film
> websites actually convinced me it was gonna be a good
> film. Or maybe there is a lot more counter opinion
> than i was aware of.
>
> any thoughts?

I know that there was some heated discussion about LOT among some critics
here in the states, when the film came out, then again when KILL BILL V1 was
released and again when the Voice year end poll was released. LOT sparked as
much debate as IRREVERSIBLE. It did in fact descend into "People who like
this film like it because they are  _____" "Well people who don't like it
don't like it because they are _____" type comments (thus my cheeky question
to Peter earlier, lol). One critic gets an assignment and may like a film,
and sometimes there are five other writers who didn't, yet their opinions
aren't heard.
>
>
>  --- drainer at mpinet.net wrote: >
> >  I was just posting about your reply regarding Lost
> > in Translation from a
> > few months ago... something about it being the Japan
> > we meet in the first
> > class hotel circuit. I think that was a good
> > observation. Generally, from
> > what I've seen so far, there are two types of people
> > who take delight in
> > this film: people who have been to Japan and stayed
> > in first class hotels,
> > and those who have never been to Japan but feel that
> > somehow they will be
> > "understood" if they were ever to come here (of
> > course, you must also take
> > the soundtrack of the movie into consideration to
> > understand that
> > statement).
> >
> >   Also, I think that you have to take into account
> > that the characters are
> > financially secure and American -- that makes a big
> > difference, especially
> > with the scene that was mentioned here regarding the
> > man reading an explicit
> > comic book in the subway. Or the fact that their
> > bonding with Japanese
> > culture takes place in a karaoke both... but I
> > digress. The real issue here
> > is not exploitation of culture, but exploitation of
> > a perceived "national
> > cool." But I guess that the grass is indeed always
> > greener on the other
> > side. (And I'm incoherent here, but, some may get
> > the point.)
> >
> > -df
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Joseph Murphy" <urj7 at nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu>
> > To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 11:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: Gaijin perspective from malaysia!
> >
> >
> > > I think the main problem is that it's a
> > disappointment as a Sophia
> > > Coppola film. Her handling of 1970's suburbia and
> > the weird stresses
> > > of a catholic family in the U.S. in Virgin
> > Suicides were so on
> > > target, so finely observed, and so generous, that
> > there was some hope
> > > she would bring the same sensitivity to observing
> > the context of
> > > Japan.  Instead she served up a lot of broad gags
> > that strike people
> > > who know the context as inane.  It's a
> > disappointment that she did
> > > not see fit to bring the same quality of
> > observation to Lost In
> > > Translation.  And I think it's already been noted
> > on this list that
> > > the movie received an extremely limited opening in
> > Japan for a major
> > > Hollywood film.
> > > J. Murphy
> > >
> > >
> > > >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
> > > -- 
> > >
> > >
> > > Univ. of Florida
> > > Gainesville, FL 32601, USA
> > > <http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jmurphy>
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
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