The Mikado's New Clothes

Rating: Null/10 (16 October 2003)

This film seems to be about a character I've seen a thousand times - a middle-aged man by himself in a strange city (and this is one of the strangest) on a business trip. He's not too happy with the way things are going at home - his wife seems to be a nag, and his kids don't even want to talk to him. So, he starts a relationship with a younger woman who is having problems herself; her husband is more interested in his work than in her.
After a few days of groping toward each other (figuratively, not literally) he returns home and that's that.
Ho hum.
What adds some interest to the film is its Japanese setting - his problems with adjusting to Japanese social and business practices (subtitling the Japanese dialog in the film would have helped), along with shots of Tokyo, and views of Mt. Fuji (with him incongruously playing golf in front of it), and Kyoto (which she visits, as an excuse to include pictures of it).
There are worse films, but this was a bit of a bore, and I, for one, do not see what the fuss is about.