Job Discussion Forums

kylemory · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:53 am Post subject:

Visitor Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du5tnsNq7sM

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290329/

guaranteed, its a bit out there, and when i first saw it back in the states, i thought "what the?!!!" but then i showed it to my japanese roommates, the whole time they were saying "natsukashii!" (basically it is nostalgic for japanese people, which says a bit about japan!)

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

hivans · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 51 Location: fukuoka

I suppose any film must give a slightly distorted picture of modern urban Japan because by its very nature it is setting out to say something out of the ordinary. Having said that I wonder if the made for tv film I saw yestersay would be relevant to the OP's original question? It is called "僕たちの戦争"　(Bokutachi no sensou or "our war"). It features a time swap where a 1944 special forces cadet and a 2004 beach bum sort of character swap places in time, and what they make of living in the other's epoch. Thus, it tries to show life in modern Japan through the eyes of an outside observer (although from another time rather than another country). I am sure a seasoned film critic would find many points to argue with, not least that it sails close to borrowing ideas from the famous stage play "Winds of God" that did a stage tour of London and New York a few years ago, but I enjoyed it mainly because the Japanese was very accessable - and I found I cared what happened to the characters however implausible the story line.

Perhaps another way to see more aspects of everyday modern Japan is to look at some of the tv drama series set in the here and now - which don' t have the cultural ambitions of a film. I can highly recomend a drama series called Orange Days which I am trying to translate as a hobby in my spare time. One day I might write a post about Orange Days as the total learning experience; for example, I have learned a lot about everyday language used by university students and early 20s types that you can't get out of a textbook from it. Anyway, I will save that for a rainy day.

I think both the above are available on DVDs with English subtitles although the copies I bought here are Japanese only.

ripslyme · Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 481 Location: Japan

mspxlation · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 44 Location: USA

MrChips · Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 9

pastis · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 82

MrChips · Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 9

Oh right! I actually meant to mention Gozu in my reply. I love that movie.

There are so many Confused

moments that are so funny. Especially the ending. Hilarious.