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03/27/04
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Japanese Story (2004)
67
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Reviews Counted:87
Fresh:58
Rotten:29
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: An emotional film where Toni Collette gets to show her impressive range.
Theatrical Release:Dec 31, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $189,209
Synopsis: This romantic drama stars Toni Collette as Sandy, a high-strung Australian geologist assigned to escort Japanese businessman Hirotmitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) on a tour through the outback. Ostensibly... [More]
Starring: Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, Lynette Curran, Yumiko Tanaka
Director: Sue Brooks
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Reviews for Japanese Story
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03/16/04
Tender, original and moving.
05/18/04
A mawkish fusion of Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout and the recent Lost in Translation, with cultural politics even more problematic than those Sofia Coppola danced about in her film.
01/30/04
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01/31/04
Colette, propelled by a beautifully understated script, digs deep to deliver the performance of her career.
12/21/03
This is that rare sort of film that is not about what happens, but about what happens then.
01/30/04
Top CriticBrooks and Collette make us see how fragile our grip on outer reality can be, how quickly it can change, and how the Earth remains eternal beneath those temporal shifts above.
01/29/04
Top CriticIt isn't a major entry in the growing genre of Australian desert dramas, but audiences everywhere should respond to the fundamental human emotions it explores.
01/15/04
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04/29/09
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12/19/03
A script as underdeveloped as Australia's Pilbara Desert can wear on audience patience.
11/11/03
Episodically effective...the likable characters and ever-present splendor of the desert landscape register strongly
01/31/04
Collette truly has a face the camera loves, and her expressiveness gives substance and symmetry to the uneven Japanese Story.
02/05/04
Top CriticFails to engage us in the lives of its characters because it never really introduces them.
04/09/04
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04/09/04
Top CriticJapanese Story takes its audience on a series of physical and emotional journeys, but comes across as artificial and forced.
04/02/04
Despite the efforts of both lead actors, as well as some rather contrived screenwriting by Alison Tilson, the romantic pairing of the somewhat effeminate Tsunashima and somewhat masculine Collette isn't really that believable.
03/12/04
The platform gives Collette plenty of room to strut her acting chops, which she does with subtlety.
01/09/04
You know, I'm this close, but I can't recommend it.
02/23/04
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