以下、1）は私の書いたもとの文、2）はアメリカ人の友達に直してもらった後の文です。
私の英語がいかに間違っているか、とくと比べてみて下さい(^_^;)。
1) Originally written by me - 2) Corrected by a native English speaker
A1: The lead actress, Naomi Fujiyama, is a daughter of “the God of Comedy” in the Western Japan, Kanbi Fujiyama. She is also very famous as well as
her father but almost has never stared in film. I would say, she, in this film, is almost equivalent to Bejork in “Dancer in the Dark” or Giulietta
Masina in the Fellini’s films, who is ugly, slow, not cool, and excluded from society. However (therefore?), when she is shinning by her own, she looks
fresh, lively, and so lovely.
I won’t tell you much about the story here. This is about Masako (35 years old), who spend most of her time at home, hit a couple of incidents,
and is pushed away to the outside of the world. She meets various kinds of people on the way to go, so in a way, this is a kind of a road movie. The way we see her journey is like seeing some Italian Neorealism films, which depict the travelers sometime in cruel and sometimes in warm.
A2: The lead actress, Naomi Fujiyama, is a daughter of Western Japan’s “God of Comedy”, Kanbi Fujiyama. She is also very famous but has never stared in a film. The role that she plays in this film, is equivalent to Bjork’s in “Dancer in the Dark” or Giulietta Masina in Fellini’s films. While she usually appears ugly and slow, at times she shines, fresh, lively, and lovely.
I don’t want to give you too much plot here, so I’ll only write a short description. Masako (35), the daughter of a dry-cleaning shop, who spend most of her life at home, experiences a serious incident then has adventures throughout Japan. She is forced to leave her neighborhood and pushed to far reaches of Japan. She meets various kinds of people on the way to go, so in a way, this is a kind of a road movie. The
way we see her journey is like seeing some Italian Neorealism films, which depict the travelers sometimes cruelly and sometimes warmly.
B1: Before I saw this film, I was explaining Sakamoto as a Japanese-Soderburg to my American friends, because he directed two films in year 2000; One is “Face”, which is about a tough life of a woman like “Erin Brokovich”, and the other one is “Shin Jingi naki Tatakai=Another Battle”, which is a men’s ensemble story like “Traffic”. Also, both were madly loved by critics in the end of 1980’s for their first films (“Dotsui Tarunen=Kock Off”- Sakamoto, “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” - Soderburg), but they hadn’t gotten any hits in a while until the last couple of years.
However, I was wrong. I realized that their ways of filmmaking are very different by seeing “Face”. Soderburg sees and depicts Erin in a sharp and smart way. Meanwhile, Sakamoto does Masako in totally a different way like running with her on the ground (Sorry, I don’t know how to describe it
in English).
B2: Before I saw this film, I described Sakamoto as a Japanese-Soderburg to my American friends, because of what he directed in the year 2000;
One is “Face”, which is about a tough life of a woman like “Erin Brokovich”, and the other one is “Shin Jingi naki Tatakai=Another Battle”, which is
a men’s ensemble story like “Traffic”. Also, both were received rave reviews from critics in the end of 1980’s for their first films (“Dotsui Tarunen=Kock Off”- Sakamoto, “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” - Soderburg), but they hadn’t had any hits in a while until the last couple of years.
However, I was wrong. I realized that their ways of filmmaking are very different by seeing “Face”. Soderburg sees and depicts Erin in a sharp and
smart way. Meanwhile, Sakamoto portrays Masako in totally a different way than Soderburg, taking on empathetic approach, working in tandem with Masako.
C1: After the screening, I had a chance to talk with Dir Sakamoto. I was boldly saying him that “I’m so jealous of you, because you made such a great
woman’s story although you’re a man”. He responded me very gently that “I made this story about a human being not about a woman”. (He was
also answering “this film is about a human being, Masako” to the question, which is asking if he made is film as a universal story or only for Japanese audience”).
In the end of our conversation, he said “Masako stuck in her house is actually myself not a long time ago”. I was very shocked he said that and, in
that moment, I felt I understood everything in the film like everything connects into one string. I’d say this is not Naomi or Masako’s film but
definitely Sakamoto’s.
C2: After the screening, I had a chance to talk with Dir Sakamoto. I boldly said to him, “I’m so jealous of you, because you made such a great woman’s story, although you’re a man”. He responded to me very gently, “I made this story about a human being not about a woman”. (He was also answering “this film is about a human being, Masako” to another question by someone else, which asked if he made the film as a universal story or only for a Japanese audience”).
At the end of our conversation, he said “Masako stuck in her house is actually myself not such a long time ago”. I was very shocked that he said that and, at
that moment, I felt like I understood everything in the film connected all together. I’d say this is not Naomi or Masako’s film but definitely Sakamoto’s.
D1: In terms of screenwriting, this story is written in a typical Hollywood formula (about the protagonist’s journey, which has a reason to travel), so it
is very simple and conventional. Yet the journey of Masako (Sakomoto’s aspiration) is so strong and soulful, which totally garbed my heart.
My favorite scene was Masako practices riding a bicycle with the owner of the love hotel. She has two dreams; one is to be able to ride on a
bicycle, the other one is to be able to swim (she practices swimming with some other guy later). It was such a sweet scene showing her desire to
her lost father, and it made me cry.
D2: In terms of screenwriting, this story is written in a typical Hollywood formula (about the protagonist’s journey), so it, in one way, is very simple and conventional. Yet the Masako’s journey (Sakomoto’s aspiration) is so strong and soulful, that it totally grabbed my heart.
My favorite scene is Masako practices riding a bicycle with the owner of the love hotel for whom she is working. She has two dreams; one is to be able to ride a bicycle, the other is to be able to swim (she practices swimming with some one else later). The scene, which showed her desire for her lost father made me cry.
E1: All casts are excellent!!! Etsuji Toyokawa is a popular actor in TV drama as well as in film, but I definitely prefer him in film! Michiyo Ohkuma’s
performance also made me cry towards the end. And believe or not, Kankuro Nakamura, whose role was the stupid rapist, is one of the biggest
Kabuki actor! Cannot believe he took that role. I think my favorite one among them was Ittoku Kishibe. You might know him from “The String of
Death”, which won Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes 1990.
E2: The entire cast is excellent!!! Etsuji Toyokawa, is a popular TV actor as well as in film, but I definitely prefer him in film! Michiyo Ohkuma’s
performance also made me cry towards the end. And believe it or not, Kankuro Nakamura, whose role was that of the stupid rapist, is one of Japan’s biggest
Kabuki actors! I cannot believe that he took that role. However, I think my favorite cast member was Ittoku Kishibe. You might know him from “The String of
Death”, which won Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes 1990.
F1: This film, “Face” started screening at only two theaters in Japan and spreaded to over 130 theaters. Moreover it’s been showing at Canne (not
the official competition, though), Toronto, PuSang, and San Sebastian film festivals. It has been winning a dozen of film awards in Japan including Kinema Junpo.
I hope to talk about this film including the end of the story at the “Film Blurt Room” someday.
Anyway, I’ve heard that his next film is about the “DaeJun Kim Incident” (The present president of South Korea, DaeJun Kim was kidnapped by
KCIA, when he was in Japan in 1970’s). Wooo… it sounds very political. I’m looking forward to seeing it very much.
F2: “Face” started showing at only two theaters in Japan and spread to over 130 theaters. Moreover it showed out of competition at Cannes and in the competitions at, Toronto, PuSan, and San Sebastian film festivals. It has been won dozens of film awards in Japan including the Kinema Junpo award.
I hope to talk about this film including the end of the story at the “Film Blurt Room” someday.
Anyway, I’ve heard that his next film is about the “DaeJun Kim Incident” (The present president of South Korea, DaeJun Kim was kidnapped by
KCIA, when he was in Japan in 1970’s). Wooo… it sounds very political. I’m looking forward to seeing it very much.
