Wasabi

[tanaka taro]

The clearest indication that "Wasabi" is basically a French production is 
that all Japanese characters in this silly film speak French: Hotel staff, 
bank employees, lawyers, teenage girls, even the immigration officials at 
Narita! 
One bank employee is even indignant that Jean Reno is not aware of this 
basic fact about Japanese multilingual society.
Having the Japanese (or other exotic people) speak English is of course a 
common enough Hollywood approach to solve the language problem for the 
Western market, but in "Wasabi" it's so improbable it's simply ludicrous. 
No serious Japanese producer would have gone along with it in the 21st 
century.
Luk Van Haute



>From: Jim Harper <jimharper666 at yahoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: RE: Call for papers in Barcelona and Help
>Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:35:12 +0000 (GMT)
>
>Well, it's what you can expect from a Luc Besson production (lots of 
action and dumb comedy). If you didn't like Taxi or Transporter, you 
probably won't like Wasabi ;)
>
>   Besson's EuropaCorps and Canal+ are the main companies, but there are a 
few Japanese production companies listed in the credits, so it seems to be 
the genuine article.
>
>   Jim.
>
>Ariane Beldi <ariane.beldi at deckpoint.ch> wrote:
>       Really? When it came out in France (and Switzerland), if I remember 
well, many critics were pretty negative about it. I guess, I'll have to 
give it a try...Is it really a Japanese-French co-production, or just a 
French production using some Japanese actors? That is my souvenir from the 
ads they ran when the movies came out.
>
>   Ariane Beldi
>   Geneva, Switzerland
>   http://beldi.userhome.ch/AB
>
>
>---------------------------------
>   De : owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] De la part de Jim Harper
>Envoy?: mercredi, 18. janvier 2006 20:05
>? : KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Objet : Re: Call for papers in Barcelona and Help
>
>
>
>   On a coincidental note, I'm just watching 'Wasabi', a Japanese-French 
co-production. It's very much a pop culture view of Japan, but it's a Luc 
Besson production starring Jean Reno, which means it's probably one of the 
most high-profile European-Japanese co-productions of recent years.
>
>   Jim.
>
>LORENZO JAVIER TORRES HORTELANO <ljtorres at hum.uc3m.es> wrote:
>   Dear kinejaps:
>
>Some of you (the European above all) might know an interesting
>Call for Papers about "Cine Europeo Contempor?eo" (Second International
>Congress on Contemporary European Cinema) to celebrate next June in
>Barcelona (http://www.upf.es/cinemaeuropeu/english/inici_e.htm).
>
>I was there last year and it was quite interesting. May be I'm
>coming again this year. I'd like to make something about relationships
>or interaction b! etween European and Japanese (Eastern) contemporary
>cinema so, what comes to your mind? Any particular ideas about movies,
>books, webs, etc., that could help me?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Lorenzo J. Torres
>Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
>Madrid, Spain
>34-657565507
>
>
>
>
>
>
>http://www.flipsidemovies.com
>http://jimharper.blogspot.com
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