Japan and the Japanese

Rating: 4/10 (13 January 2004)

Perhaps the most objectionable feature of this overrated film is its sneering, superficial view of Japan and the Japanese. Coppola's take on this appears straightaway in Bob's journey from the airport through the garishly-lit high-rise desert which is all we are shown of Tokyo to the ingratiating group of welcomers awaiting him at the hotel. But the point is hammered home in scene after tedious scene of Japanese speaking incomprehensible English (and even - good grief! - no English at all), Japanese behaving like idiots, Japanese in endless karaoke sessions, and shot after shot after shot of all those soulless big buildings! An alternative to this view of Japan is restricted to Charlotte's visit to Kyoto, a sequence so brief that if you'd blinked you'd have missed it.
What a dreary contrast all this is to Edward Zwick's 'The Last Samurai', which, despite its share of Hollywoodisms, shows a genuine interest in and respect for the country in which it is set.