Japanese Story

My wife picked this up at the store for us to watch since I wasn't feeling well. We both had high hopes - it was set in Australia, which we both love, and it had won numerous awards there.

Things started off ok, if not a little slow. Independent and foriegn films usually don't have a lot of flash at the beginning like a Hollywood Blockbuster, and my wife and I like that. We recently enjoyed Garden State and I Heart Huckabees quite a bit.

Unfortunately, this movie never picked up speed. In fact, it slowed down. Wayyyy down. To an almost maddening non-speed. I mean, how long can we look at a close-up of Toni Collete making subtle emotional faces? Apparently not as long as foreigners, because the original international cut has even MORE boring-ness.

I debated whether or not to include a spoiler describing a major plotline that they drag out FOREVER, especially since I wouldn't really encourage anyone to rent this particular movie, but I figured I shouldn't start my first movie blog post like that. But take it from me, this movie was long.