Conference bookie::movies

    Rising Sun, the book is by Michael Critchton, author of
    Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain.
    
    Two detectives in LA investigating a murder that took place
    during a big opening night bash at a company/building owned
    by a large Japanese corporation. 
    
    A very controversial film because of the Japan bashing that
    goes on.  
    
    The story is about murder, interesting cover ups, Japanese
    buying out America, and more specifically, LA., Japanese
    business practices, and the power of the almighty Yen.
    
    Jodi-
    

    I have never read a book that was so bias against Japan.  It should
    make for a interesting movie.
    
    			Bart
    
    ps: Very little in the coming attractions (a little joke)

    If the movie is anything like the book it should be a very good movie.
    But with films like the FIRM that take all of the good parts of the
    book and throw them out I am crossing my fingers on this flick.
    

    I'm sure this will be pretty different than the book---at least with
    the personalities of the characters.  I just finished reading the book
    and the Wesley Snipes character is not a tough guy and doesn't know any
    martial arts.  I figure since they have Wesley, they'll probably play
    that up.  Now Sean Connery fits the story pretty good.  The book was
    pretty good--brought out a lot of things we never really think about in
    regards to Japan.  I didn't consider it Japan "bashing" although I'm
    positive the Japanese would!  More like a wake up call to Americans.
    I'll probably go see the movie, but I'm not expecting it to follow the
    book closely.
    
    Renee

    re: .1
    
    Why do you think this book is biased? I've read it and it's a pretty
    fair interpretation of the way Japan does business. The Japanese spend
    a lot of money telling us that if we say anything anti-Japanese, that
    we are racists. The fact is that Japan analyzes anything that may
    affect their homogeneous society (99.5% of the people living in Japan
    are Japanese) and lash out when that is threatened.
    
    The Japanese are extremely protective of their country. For example,
    some American rice growers attended a trade conference with a display
    of rice kernels mounted on a board. This was considered an illegal
    import of rice and forced the company to remove the display from the
    conference. Rice is something in the Japanese soul and breaking that
    monopoly would be mind-shattering to them.
    
    Look at what Japan pays for fresh meat and fresh produce. Americans
    wouldn't stand for that. However, trying to export these products to
    Japan is extremely difficult.
    
    Why are loggers upset in the Pacific Northwest? Because holding back
    old-growth will damage the US building industry? Well, you should be
    aware that a large percentage of the cuttings are shipped to Japan and
    they pay top dollar for this wood. 
    
    Japan does not have a level playing field. They don't allow lobbyists
    to affect the government. They encourage and support corporate
    consortiums which would land American corporate leaders in jail without
    possibility of parole.
    
    How easy is it for American car companies to export to Japan? Well,
    there is the fact that most American car companies won't change the
    wheel from the left to right side. Well, Chrysler decided to do that
    and they still can't make a significant impact. One reason is that each
    and every American car is inspected before it can be moved from the
    dock. Can you imagine what would happen if we did this to Japanese car
    imports? We accept letters from the Japanese companies saying their
    cars conform to the American standards. 
    
    The fact is that the Japanese hold a lot of US Treasury bonds and still
    continue to buy bonds. If they decided to stop buying, interest rates
    would go through the ceiling and the economy would collapse. The
    problem is that this isn't really a threat anymore. If US rates go up
    and the world economy fails, Japan fails along with everyone since
    their markets would disintegrate. So the Japanese continue to lend us
    money which we give back to them to buy exports and then we pay them
    the interest on this money. They win both ways.
    
    Don't feel sorry for Japan. They are big boys and girls. They'll get
    along all right and 1 movie won't make a difference. Japanese forget
    that most Americans have MTV minds. After the movie opens there may be
    some short term effects, but things will go back to the status quo.

    	This film will be another example of American insecurity and bias
    against those who do not fit the image of the American Way [sic]. So is
    the point that we can make an anti-Japanese movie because no one will
    suffer from the film? This is nonsense. People are wondering why
    America is so divided and violent, movies like this are part of the
    problem.

    Re .6 --
    
    > So is the point that we can make an anti-Japanese movie because 
    > no one will suffer from the film? This is nonsense.
    
    Nothing like a straw man with coffee for a Monday morning breakfast.
    :-)
    
    If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, please give a thought 
    to not jumping to conclusions about its content. Objecting to Japanese
    business practices is a far cry from being "anti-Japanese".
    
    Neil
    

    
    
    This reminds me of the old saying "America love it...or leave it"
    Anything that doesn't show the Japanese in a positive light is Japan
    bashing...right....This is beginning to sound like Soap Box....
    I liked the book, I hope the movie is good too...
    
                -=-=-R~C~W-=-=-

    re. .6
    
    Your comments are a dead-on example of our problem in general -- 
    
    The issues here need to be examined a much deeper level: Are we 
    Japan-bashing or is this unfair trade on Japan's part? 
    
    The American inclination is to not look beyond the surface -- to take 
    it at face value that we are looking for a scape goat (ie. Japan).
    [Yes, we did get lazy and build poor products in the 60s & 70s. This is
    indeed our fault.]
    
    However, look deeper. We have some fair grievances here with Japan's 
    trade practices as mentioned by the previous notes. The book does a
    good job of explaining this during the telling of the story.
    
    On the other hand, to me these explanations became annoying in the book
    because I am very well aware of them and because they are touched upon
    so superficially and at akward times. Almost like a commercial break.
    Anyone else have this reaction to the book?
    
    Curt
    

    I thought when I read the book that the lead character, John Connor,
    was African-American, and that the younger guy that he was mentoring
    was Caucasian, and I was surprised to find out that the movie switched
    this around and had Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes cast in these roles.
    Did anyone else read the book and get the same impression?

    The lead character is Caucasian in the book, and the "younger
    guy" is never described fully enough to tell.  Since the words
    "racist" and "racism" occur frequently throughout the book, if
    the younger cop was meant to be African-American, the author 
    certainly missed many opportunities to make other points and
    comparisons.  (Actually, the description of John Conner reads
    *exactly* like Sean Connery looks.  Very simple job for the
    casting team.)  So I don't think it's a "switch";  it's a
    "change for the movie-going audience".  Or maybe it's "PC"?
    
    			dick
    

    Hi Dick:
    
    Well, in page 371 of the paperback, John Connor made a statement
    replying to the younger guy's question of why he left Japan if
    he was so good at his work with the Japanese.  In that paragraph
    he made a comment about tired of being treated like a "gaijin"
    as well as another word (which I don't like and won't repeat
    here), and that led me to believe that John Connor was supposed
    to be African-American.  Anyhow, that took me by surprise, since
    I'd assumed from the start that both men were Caucasian.  Any
    thoughts on this?
    
    Rae

    Sorry folks, I know this is a "movies" notesfile and not "books"...:)
    
    By the way, there was an interview with Wesley Snipes last night
    on Prime Time.  In it the interviewer asked how he felt when 
    rumour had it that Michael Crichton was not happy about him being
    cast in that role.  Wesley Snipes replied with something like
    Michael will get over it as soon as he gets the check. 

    Re .12 --
    
    All gaijin means is foreigner, it says nothing about race. And if you
    won't say what the other word is, then there is no way to tell if it
    meant he was supposed to be black.
    
    If the other word used was "nigger", by any chance (I don't have the
    book anymore), this indicates nothing. I used to live in Japan, and
    heard foreigners use this phrase about living in Japan only to 
    indicate that they were treated as unwanted outsiders, which was a
    first-time experience for most (white Americans). That is, with
    superficial politeness, but with no chance to participate in the
    society no matter how long they lived there.
    
    I read the book and it never occurred to me for a moment that he might
    be black. There are so few foreigners who speak Japanese at all, much
    less black foreigners, that a black person getting to be so fluent in
    Japanese, in the face of a double dose of racism, would be a far more
    interesting tale than the one told in Rising Sun! 
    
    I've seen one black guy fluent in Japanese. He is from the African
    country of Guinea. He is so unusual that he is in constant demand on
    Japanese television.
    
    Neil

    Hi Neil:
    
    Yes, that was the word used in the book.  And since it was John
    Connor who used that word instead of a Japanese, I assumed that
    he was using it in the more common context than in the Japanese
    context.
    
    Well, it made the book more interesting to me anyhow, and made
    me think twice about how I'd assumed everyone in the book was
    either Caucasian or Japanese, unless obviously stated.  
    
    I'm looking forward to seeing the movie and how it might be able
    to take what happened in three days and make it interesting on 
    screen.
    

    Gaijin does not simply mean "foreigner" in Japanese, there are many
    shades of meaning to the word, depending upon context, inflection, etc. 
    The word can mean anything from an "outsider or alien"  to "barbarian". 
    The latter context is a rather common interpretation.
    
    I am looking forward to seeing this film, I really like Connery's work
    which does bias me toward this film, but we shall see if it really
    measures up.
    
    Andrew
    

    Re .16 --
    
    Yes, yes, shades of meaning and all that.
    
    One thing gaijin does _not_ mean, though, is African-American. :-)
    
    A joke I used to good effect a couple of times, upon being called
    "gaijin" by bratty kids was to say "Chigau, ninjin daiyo!" Which 
    means I'm not a foreigner, I'm a carrot! Works if you have red hair, at
    least, and make threatening, giant carrot-like motions at the kids.
    Scares 'em to bits! :-)
    
    I'll be interested to see if Connery can pull off a reasonable
    approximation of spoken Japanese. Probably not, but it would be nice 
    if they took the trouble to coach him at it.
    

    Well, I would say that gaijin does not ONLY refer to African-American,
    but it can.  "Gai" means outside or foreign, and "jin" means person.
    So, gaijin can be used to refer to me, even though I am Asian, but
    not Japanese.
    
    And, I personally know quite a few African-Americans from college who
    were not only fluent in Japanese or Chinese, but are well versed in
    the culture and literature from those countries.  So, I suppose it
    really isn't that unusual is it? :)  At least I hope not, these are
    pretty great languages to learn.
    
    Personally, I hope Sean Connery had a good language coach if he's
    going to attempt speaking Japanese.  What Rob Lowe did to the Cantonese
    language in Wayne's World was scary...!

I am sorry about this digression. But this movie is bound to generate, in fact
is meant to generate, discussion of this type anyway, beyond the scope of the
plot, so please bear with, for another moment.

>   Well, I would say that gaijin does not ONLY refer to African-American,
>   but it can.  "Gai" means outside or foreign, and "jin" means person.
>   So, gaijin can be used to refer to me, even though I am Asian, but
>   not Japanese.

Yes, gaijin is used to refer to any outsider, be they black, Chinese, Iranian, 
or anybody else. But it does not make any distinction among them. So, it is
impossible to say what race/nationality Conner is (Is that his name by the 
way? I forget.) simply from the word gaijin, since it is used to refer to any
outsider. Besides, there is a separate Japanese word for black person.

If you really still think Conner is African-American, based only on this and
the obviously figurative use of the other word, then I am at a loss.

>   And, I personally know quite a few African-Americans from college who
>   were not only fluent in Japanese...

Quite a few? How can you tell?  Maybe our definitions of fluency are different.
People use that word very casually. I've met maybe ten non-Japanese (of any
race) who I'd consider fluent in the language, in the last twenty years.
Usually long-term residents with Japanese spouses--not college kids.

I can mumble my way around in Japanese, and to people who don't know the
language, I might even sound fluent. How droll.

This is a subject of more than passing interest to me. We're trying to keep our
young daughters bilingual with Japanese. So far so good, but even with a
Japanese mom, it's a struggle. It's why I don't use the word "fluent" casually.
Already they are better than me though, in spite of all my college Japanese.
:-)

Enough. I just opened a note in Japan Culture (JIT081::JPNCLT) about Rising
Sun,  so there's a place to go when the moderator here gets sick of this. :-)

Neil

    I'd recommend that some folks pick up the current issue of PREMIERE. 
    The cover story is about the making of RISING SUN and I found the
    article quite interesting given the discussions going on here.
    
    Regarding some folks' belief that the film will do a lot of "Japan
    bashing".  The director, Philip Kaufman (THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF
    BEING, THE RIGHT STUFF), is apparently a "Japanophile" and has made
    some changes to the story and script that angered co-screenwriters
    Michael Crichton and Michael Backes enough for them to leave the
    project.  They still are credited with the screenplay, but their names
    will appear after Kaufman's.  I do not recall the specific changes
    outlined in the article and seeing as I haven't read the book, I
    can't say how this changes the story but Kaufman seemed committed to
    maintaining the integrity of the basic story.
    
    As to the question of race.  The article says Crichton wrote the book
    with Connery specifically in mind for the John Connor character. 
    Connery serves as executive producer for the film and bought the rights
    to the book early on after he had read the "galleys".  Also, Backes
    says that in writing the book, Crichton originally thought that the
    character Wesley Snipes plays should be an African-American but didn't
    follow through on this idea.  But the filmmakers didn't know this when
    they considered casting Snipes in the part.
    
    And before anyone starts jumping up and down and yelling, "I knew it!! 
    I knew it!!  They changed the book!!  Aaaaiiiieeee!!!  A pox on
    everyone involved...." go see the movie and *then* let us know what you
    think.
    
    - Skip

    Well this is a first for me..over 20 replies and mine is the first from
    someone who actually saw the movie :^}
    
    I did not see anything that would make this movie a target for the
    label "Japan Bashing"  - they did show a few dirty business tricks but
    I saw that as business not culture.
    
    I wasn't too impressed with the movie ober all - it had some good
    intrigue - and the plot twist were easy to swallow when happening but
    it seemed like there was forced tension between the Snipes and Connery
    character that I never really understood - granted, Snipes thought
    Connery's presence was not necessary but it seemed much deeper than
    that and that was never explained.
    
    I guess unless your a major fan of this writer then wait until the
    video comes out - you won't miss much by seeing this on the small
    screen
    
    my 2 cents
    
    I have a question about the end - maybe one of the many who read the
    book can help me understand it... (behind form feed)
    
    
    
    What the heel happened with the Snipes character and the Japanese
    heritage whe was the computer whiz?  I never saw a build up with them
    yet the last 5-8 minutes of the movie was them saying good bye?  What
    was that all about?  Did their whole romance - or at least their whole
    mating dance wind up on the cuting room floor?  
     
              

    
    A lot of interesting bits, but not strung together very well. 
    Competently acted, competently staged, not terribly well written.  The
    talk about Japan bashing seems like a lot of talk to me.  There are bad
    guys who happen to be Japanese, but they are portrayed as having
    basically gotten bad because they were Americanized.  If anything, it
    makes Americans appear as if our culture has gotten a sort of
    collective mental disorder.  We invented the game, but we aren't smart
    enough to play it any more.  Some parts of the story left somewhat
    shallow.
    
    As for .21 ...
    
    Their mating dance took place in that little interlude in the video
    lab.  Mostly through eye contact.  Almost, well, Oriental in it's
    subtlety. :-)
    
    

    This is OK.  In other words, I didn't mind paying full price for it,
    but all said and done, I'd rather have paid half-price.   
    
    For those who don't know the plot (and I didn't check to see if any of
    the other replies spoke about it), it hinges around the Wesley Snipes
    character, a police detective in the "Special Services" group of the
    LAPD.  Special Services, it would appear, deals with the myriad of
    touchy situations which might happen in the Golden Land of LA --
    they are called when a movie star has dealings with the police, when
    police require a translator, when diplomats get in trouble, etc.
    Sean Connery's character is also in the Special Services, but
    semi-retired.  He only is called when one is dealing with the Japanese
    (apparantly, Something Happened and John Connor--Connery's
    character--took a Leave of Absence.  Exactly what happened--it's
    implied he fell from grace with somebody, once--is never really touched
    upon).
    
    Wesley Snipes character begins the movie being interrogated by someone
    I assumed was the Chief of Police, and we see most of the movie in sort
    of flashback.  I was not terribly keen on this mainly because the
    segue's between scenes were, at best, not smooth and mostly because
    this interrogation scene really had very little to contribute to the
    movie.  Still, we assume that somehow Wesley Snipes character is In
    Trouble with his superiors and that Something Strange is going on.
    
    A beautiful mistress of a Japanese hoodlum, Eddie, is murdered while
    engage in kinky sex at a high profile, very posh party thrown by the
    Nakamoto Corporation.  Nakamoto Corp, who is at every opportunity shown
    to be quite opulent, extravagant, and high-tech, is in the midst of a
    controversial negotiation to buy a Major American Chip Manufacuter,
    Micro-something (not Soft, although I suppose this was the film's
    analogy).  MicroSomething is not super keen on selling out, and to top
    it all off, a powerful senator is driving a bill through Congress to
    prohibit the sale of MicroSomething to the Japanese.  The party, we
    correctly guess, is to woo the senator, MicroSomething and just about
    anyone with any vestige of promise or power in LA.  There are literally
    oodles of gorgeous American Babes hanging around, and a few
    traditionally attired but notably less beautiful Japanese women. 
    Apparantly, Japanese business men really like Western women.  
    
    Anyway....upstairs, our lovely victim engages in sex on the boardroom
    table and dies.  Hence, the police are called in--but the Japanese
    insist on Special Services (even though they are neither diplomats, nor
    need translators).  They also demand that John Connor show up.  After
    Snipes goes to pick up his imposed partner, he gets a lecture on how to
    behave around the Japanese, and we are first exposed to the movie-long
    lesson on Japanese Culture vs. American Culture.  When our erstwhile
    cops arrive at the Nakamoto building, they find that this
    investigation is going to be less than routine, and soon begin to
    suspect that there is more to this murder than meets the eye.
    
    And so we go.
    
    Wesley  Snipes and Sean Connery get on well, although their characters
    don't always.  Unfortunatley,neither role gets to be much deeper than a
    particularly thick piece of cardboard -- all sorts of questions about
    what drives them remain unanswered and plenty of throwaway information
    is given.  The Japanese characters are even thinner, and protrayed as
    wholly smug and again, very fond of babes who do nothing more than lay
    around and get sushi eaten off of their loins.  The only woman of
    substance (aka, the only woman who isn't a beautiful babe just standing
    around to be admired) is the Tia Carrere character, who also manages to
    project an annoying amount of unwarrented arrogance in her first ten
    minutes on the screen. Harvey Kietel provided some amusing screentime
    as Snipes' usual partner, a Japanese-unfriendly detective with shady
    morals. 
    
    As a mystery goes, Rising Sun is mildly intriguing.  As suspense, it
    has great expanses that aren't tense at all.  As a well put-together
    movie, it rambles, the characters are largely unsympathetic and the
    flow jumbled.  There were interesting moments put alongside
    uninteresting moments.  On the whole, it could have been a lot better
    with relatively little work, I think.  I can neither recommend nor pan
    it. Basically, go see it if you wanna, but don't expect to be wowed. :)
    
    **.25 out of ****
    
    kim

    The movie on the surface followed the main theme of the book, but a few
    points were left out.  All in all I thought it was a fairly decent
    movie with a few good plot twists.  I think one of the best things
    about the movie was the eerie night setings that the movie was mostly
    based in.  I think that gave the audience the type of mood that really
    fit the book, and the whole underlying dark atmosphere of the crime.
    It needed a more substansive character development on the Japanese
    businessmen, and a more concrete relationship of Connery and Snipes. 
    But It had some funny moments, a little action, and plenty of kinky
    scenes.
    
    **3/4 out of ****
    

    RE: .23
    
    Well put Kim - I believe you hit my nail on its head.
    
    I have difficulty in expressing my opinions/reviews for movies but Kim
    has it nailed tight - thanks
    
    Joyce

Well the Japanese have nothing to worry about with this one. Most remotely
negative references to Japanese business practices, customs, etc, have been
meticulously expunged. It's about as controversial now as a glass of warm milk.

Of course, we mustn't expect (God forbid) that a movie has any relation to the
book it is based on. In this case though the whole point of Crichton's novel is
lost. The result is just another generic murder mystery, with the Japanese
there as not much more than interesting color. 

No wonder Crichton distanced himself from this effort. He probably thinks the
Japanese bought out the director!

In the "cringe at language" category, Connery spoke almost no Japanese, which 
was pretty safe. He did in one early scene, but barked the phrases out, to
disguise the problem. Clever!

The worst scene of this type was between Tia Carrere, who is Hawaiian I think,
and Stan Egi (?), who plays one of the young Japanese go-betweens, but must be
Japanese-American. Pretty dreadful pronunciation on both parts. I still don't
know why they can't use real Japanese actors in these roles. On the plus side,
one of the elders was played nicely by the character actor Mako, who has been
kicking around for ages, playing various interchangeable (Chinese/Korean/
Japanese) Oriental parts. His Japanese, as well as that of Cary Hiroyuki-
Tagawa, sounded quite real.

Spoiler warning..

About differences from the book...

They even went so far as to change the nationality of the killer! There was no
plot reason to do this, so the only possible justification, as far as I can
tell, is to make the movie less  offensive to the Japanese. 

Feh! Read the book, otherwise the point is lost.

    I saw this the other night, with a couple of friends.  It's really not
    my type of movie, but I found it reasonably entertaining (i.e. I wasn't
    bored).  It's not something I'd ever really care to sit though again,
    but I thought it was reasonably well-done.  I haven't read the book,
    and won't, since it's not the type of thing that interests me.  
    
    I do have to say, though, that I think Wesley Snipes is amazingly good
    looking.  wow.  What a cute face.  :-)   (can't blame that woman in
    Jungle Fever...wish he worked in the cubicle next to me)  :-)
    
    Other comments after form feed:
    
    re .21, Joyce, it seemed obvious to me that Wesley Snipes and the
    Japanese woman, in the lab, were attracted to each other, right from
    the first time they spoke.
    
    re the end of the movie, from what she (the Japanese woman) said to
    Wesley Snipes, at the end of the movie, I left the theater thinking
    that I still wasn't *really* sure who had killed the woman.
    
    Also, do you think Wesley Snipes went in, when she left the door open
    at the end?  That's what I wanted to know.  :-)
    
    Lorna
    
    

    
    I think spoiler comment so behing the FF
    
    
    
    RE: Lorna
    Well I saw the 'attraction' but never saw it come out as any type of
    romance that would justify the gooey sweet kiss off she gave him...I
    dunno know...
    

    I'd give it 3$ out of the $7 I paid in Harvard Sq. 
    
    The book is so much better that I was just very dissappointed, 
    great book, great actors  and loosy movie. Really too bad. 
    
    John

>    re the end of the movie, from what she (the Japanese woman) said to
>        Wesley Snipes, at the end of the movie, I left the theater thinking
>           that I still wasn't *really* sure who had killed the woman.
    
    
    SPOILER ALERT
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I think they left that ambiguity there so those who read the book can
    believe that it was the same killer as in the book.  In the book, there
    is no ambiguity, Ishiguro (sp.) is seen on the original tape.  The
    movie followed the book right up to the point of them accusing him and
    he saying it wasn't me it was him. Other than the implied guilt of the
    killer (I forget his name) running away, there is no real proof, hence
    her comment.  I agree that the change in ending from the book was
    pointless other than to change the killer from being Japanese to
    American.  Although I enjoyed the book a whole lot more and felt the
    movie was much too watered down, I still managed to enjoy the movie,
    probably due to the performances of Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes.

Someone mentioned Rob Lowe speaking Cantonese in Wayne's World. The person he
was speaking Cantonese to in that movie, as it turns out (and, if I remember
right), was Wayne's girlfriend, the same Tia Carrere who plays Teresa Asakuma
in Rising Sun. I hope her Cantonese is better than her Japanese! :-)

About the mini-spoiler...

For what it's worth...

In the book, Connor didn't know Teresa Asakuma, she wasn't living with him,
and Smith didn't have a romantic interest in her. 

Her deformity was much more severe in the book. In the movie it was reduced
to a mere bent wrist, big deal. This allowed the movie to have it both ways.
She was still deformed enough to give her little speech about how Japanese
think deformity is shameful, but not deformed enough to interfere with the 
suggestion of romantic links between both male leads.

So that whole thing was tacked on. It seemed rather odd--the door left open,
then Connery's voiceover tsk-tsking "Kohai!", then laughing,  as if he had
telepathic powers. It seemed they couldn't figure out how to end the movie.
Maybe connected to the fact that the killer's identity, since changed, had no
greater significance. What the heck, glue on a bit of a romantic tease at the
end to take advantage of the photogenic qualities of the young stars. 

    Saw this last night with my wife, and she liked it a bit more than I
    did.
    
    Connery was excellent, Snipes slightly less so, mostly due to the fact
    that Snipes' character was not fully embellished.  He did not have any
    firm charcteristics that made him act the way he did.  Connery was
    allowed to flaunt his knowlege of Japanese culture; Snipes' character
    didn't show any reason why he was not still a patrolman.
    
    The plot in the film was about as far from Japan bashing as you can
    get.  I agree with the comments that looked at the movie as more
    dumb, dishonest, greedy American stereotype.  The story was obvious at
    times, too.  They did not allow the suspense to build.
    
    Sexist comment:  I did like Eddie's dinner table!!!
    
    6.5 out of 10
    
    NAZZ 

    Saw this last night with my fiance.  He didn't read the book and liked
    the movie, I read the book and thought the movie was ok, but I was
    kind of disappointed that some of the more interesting aspects about
    the Japanese business culture in the book were not captured in the movie.
    But hey there's only so much you can do in two hours I suppose.
    
    Questions for those who've seen the movie:  did Tia Carrere's character
    ever mention her heritage in the movie?  I think in the book she was
    part black and part Japanese.  Tia is by the way part Chinese/Spanish/
    Filipino, and re a previous note, her Cantonese is not much better, but
    it was better than Wayne's... :)
    
    My suggestion for anyone who's interested: read the book, it is pretty
    good and imho better than the movie.  Also, if you saw the movie and 
    like the drum performance at the party, get tickets to the Kodo Drummers 
    the next time they're in town.  We saw them when they came to Boston
    last year.  I don't know how good they are in terms of quality to what's 
    performed in Japan, but I was impressed.
    
    Rae  

    re .33, since you asked, No, actually, I didn't enjoy the drum
    performance.  :-)   I thought it seemed sorta weird and pointless in
    terms of entertainment.  I'll stick with the Neil Young concert I have
    tickets for at GReat Woods this month.  :-)
    
    re Tia Carrere's character's heritage, in the movie.  She told Snipes
    character that she was half Black and half Japanese.
    
    Lorna
    

This is one of the best films I've seen all year.  It's an extremely
deft play on moral ambiguity and allegiance in the age of money-culture.
It reminds me of another corporate crime thriller, "The Conversation"
with Gene Hackman many years back.  That film was deadly serious, but 
this film has a tease - a nagging commic edge.  It stretches the crime-
thiller film noire genre with its relentless bafflement and surprise humor.  
Yet it is never gratuitously absurd.  

I haven't read the book and I heard it bashed Japan.  The film does
not.

Brian

> I haven't read the book and I heard it bashed Japan.  The film does not.
    
    An NPR film critic claimed that if the book had never been released
    but the movie released as-is, there would have been howls of protest
    about the movie.  In particular about the way the film tends to show
    all the good-looking women as playthings for rich foreigners.
    
    Well, that's one critic's opinion.

    
    I usually agree with most of you about moveis... but this movie was
    the pits!  I am a big Sean/Wesley/Tia fan...but this movies was
    slow & boring!  The ending was the worst ending I've ever seen and
    there were so meny parts of the movie that didn't make sence or fit
    
    I even watched it a second time to give another chance and came away
    hating the movie even more...this is the worst movie I have ever seen
    in my life.
    
    lkp

    Rented this on the weekend.  I enjoyed the movie and will probably
    read the book now (aren't the books always better?).  I picked this
    one to entertain my husband and my brother-in-law; you know guys like
    this sort of stuff :^)  Alas, I was the one that became engrossed
    in the movie.  My husband said it was o.k., my brother-in-law thought
    it was too "� la Am�ricaine".  I really liked Sean's character and
    some of his lines.  I also liked the actor who played Eddie.
    
    An earlier reply found the movie slow, I didn't but it is long,
    approximately 2 hrs and 20 mins.  My feeling is that those who have
    read the book tend to be dissappointed and those that haven't are
    entertained.
    
    A good rental. 
    
    PChaplinsky

I haven't read the book, but heard about its Japan bashing.
The movie seems to be less OF Japan bashing than ABOUT Japan bashing,
most notably Harvey Keitel's character carrying that ball.
Actually, there was some effort to give the feeling for the equal-but-different
aspect of Japanese and American cultures.  It's hard to expose such differences
without some feeling of bias creeping in.

But to my real point, a SERIOUS spoiler....

The Senator was the one who was demonstrated to have had sex with the
murdered woman.  I take it this is a change from the book?
Or just who the real murderer was?
But the medical examiner did the tests and stated that the semen sample and
the residual pubic hair found on the body were Asian.

I understand from earlier replies that there is some ambiguity about
who the murderer was, either Ishihara(? the Japanese functionary)
or the American working for them.
Since the American was the one who ran, I figure it must have been him.

Why did Eddie run into the hands of his attackers?
What face was he trying to save?  

Why did Tanaka take Eddie's car when the cops raided?  Was it a planned 
diversion?  Did he PLAN to die to take the heat off Eddie?  Why?

All in all, rather too many convenient coincidences, or I missed
the setups about who was leading whom on (and I know that this concept
was part ofthe movie, "delay and distract").

- tom]

    About the spoilers:
    
    
    
    >But the medical examiner did the tests and stated that the semen
    >sample and the residual pubic hair found on the body were Asian.
    
    She and Eddie had sex.  Then she and the senator started having sex,
    but she faded before they could finish.
    
    >Since the American was the one who ran, I figure it must have been him
    
    In the book, it was Ishihara.  They changed the villain to avoid more
    Japan-bashing charges.
    
    >Why did Eddie run into the hands of his attackers?
    >What face was he trying to save?  
    
    Web was willing to risk his child to save Eddie's life.  Apparently
    Eddie decided the gesture required another gesture in return.
    
    >Why did Tanaka take Eddie's car when the cops raided? 
    
    I think it was simply more convenient.  His truck was out in the
    street; he would have had to go through the cops to get to it.