Shaggy Dog question

Jasper Sharp jasper_sharp at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 25 14:00:53 EDT 2008





I've noticed that Hachiko Story is the latest Japanese dog movie up for a Hollywood remake treatment (following Eight Below a year or so back), with a release due later this year - according to the imdb Richard Gere is set to star, perhaps due to his close ties with the Japanese film industry after Rhapsody in August and the Shall We Dance remake, while Lasse Halstrom is to direct - I assume because his oeuvre includes My Life as a Dog (after The Shipping News and Chocolat I'm frankly amazed anyone would let him near a film set ever again).

This leads me to my main question though, which is about Hata Masanori, the director of The Adventures of Milo and Otis, or The Adventures of Chatran, depending on what part of the world you're viewing in. The jmdb says that in 1995 he directed a similar film called The Adventure of a Golden Dog, and other sources I've found says this was filmed in Australia (with a significant number of non-Japanese names in katakana listed among the crew). I've found no information whatsoever about any release outside of Japan however, but the imdb lists a film called Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, directed by someone called Phillip Borsos. This film was set in British Columbia, so I assume that despite the similar names and identical release year, it's not the same at all - unless it's another remake. So what I am wondering is if anyone knows of any release outside of Japan for Hata's film and has anyone seen it? (i note it's available on DVD in Japan)

Dog movies seem to go through periodic phases of immensely popularity in both Japan and America, but I should point out with a certain degree of patriotic pride that it was the British who got there first with, to my mind still the greatest example of  the genre, which is Cecil Hepworth's Rescued by Rover from 1905.


Jasper












Midnight Eye
www.midnighteye.com

_________________________________________________________________
Get Hotmail on your mobile. Text MSN to 63463 now!
http://mobile.uk.msn.com/pc/mail.aspx


More information about the KineJapan mailing list