Limousine Drive (Japanese film set in NYC)

[Michael McCaskey]

Dear Jason,

Thank you very much--I just took the liberty of pasting your notes into a separate MS Word file.

Extremely helpful and thoughtful, and I appreciate it..

mmcc

----- Original Message -----
From: Jason Gray <loaded_films at yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Friday, June 22, 2007 0:25 am
Subject: Limousine Drive (Japanese film set in NYC)

> Following Mike Arnold's mention -- I can't remember why I
> saw this film (on video), but here are my notes from 2003.
> 
> -----
> 
> 
> English Title
> Limousine Drive
> 
> Japanese Title (Romaji)
> Rimujin doraibu
> 
> Japanese Title (Japanese)
> ???????????????????????
> 
> English Translated Title      
> 
> Alternative English Titles 
> 
> Running Time 
> 93
> 
> Year of Release
> 2001
> 
> Distribution Company/Studio 
> Leyline, Historic Grammar, Sunset Cineworks, Littlemore,
> Transformer
> 
> Director 
> Masashi YAMAMOTO ????
> 
> Cast                                        
> T.M. STEVENS ?????????????, Yukako NAKA ?
> ???, ONIMARU ??, Chaudry Iqram ??????????
> ?, Don TRAN ??????, Kanji TSUDA ????
> 
> Availability
> 
> 
> Rating 
> 2
> 
> Genre
> Dra Com
> 
> Comments                               
> 	Sometimes cute but mostly grating, this shambling indie
> effort is set in New York City. Non-actor Naka plays (and
> probably is) a  gongyaru (bottle-blonde, darkly-tanned
> Shibuya girl) who goes to NYC for an extended shopping
> trip. Her limo-driver (real-life funk-meister Stevens) has
> his wheels stolen and Naka become his unwanted houseguest.
> A decent setup, but the plot and characters are soon all
> over the place, with silly scams, Naka's couplings, and
> Steven's relationship with his grown daughter (who seems
> unrelated). The big-brother little-sister dynamic between
> Stevens and Naka somehow turns romantic at the end ("You
> can f*** me if you want", she squeaks).
> 	Yamamoto is one of the few Japanese filmmakers who casts
> mixed nationalities (see 1998's Junk Food.) This is
> interesting, though it seems to stem more from his tastes
> in music  than a desire to comment on racial relations.
> Vietnamese Don Tran gives the best perf as a
> Japanese-hating gang leader, though Onimaru is also
> effective as the narcissistic sociopath Naka briefly hooks
> up with. 
> 	Also a showcase for Stevens' music?he performs a full
> song in his George-Clintonesque getup. Apparently 35mm, it
> looks more like 16mm. The retro ad art is the best thing
> about this production.
> 
> Initials
> JG
> 
> 
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