One of my English teachers recommended the movie, “Away We Go.” She told me “It’s a light indie flick and one of my favorite movies.” So, I checked the Japanese title of it, because it often happens that the Japanese titles are completely different from the original titles. For example, the Pixer film “Up” changed into “カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家: Old man Carl’s flying house.”
“Away We Go” is an American movie, directed by Sam Mendes. The Japanese title hasn’t been decided yet, and it’ll be shown next March in Japan. Unfortunately, I can’t watch it until next year, even though it came out in June 2009 in the States. Oh… there is a big delay in the release date between Japan and America. I’m sure if the casts of the movie are famous and popular among the Japanese, such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp, or Tom Cruise, there wouldn’t be such a big delay. Maybe if the movie was directed by a very famous director among Japanese, like Clint Eastwood, James Cameron, Jerry Bruckheimer, Luc Besson, or Steven Spielberg, it would also come out much earlier.
I think Sam Mendes is already famous in the world. Even though his movie “American Beauty” won 5 Oscars, including the Best Picture and Best Director, he is not so familiar among Japanese. Why?
I think it must be the culture differences. His films are based on American social problems which exist in ordinary people’s daily lives, not showy issues. Drugs, homosexuals, foster families, returning soldiers, respectability issues and more…
Maybe those are common problems for Americans, but the issues are not easy for Japanese to understand, with the exception of the theme of respectability. Each country has their own social problems. A country’s social issues may be difficult for outsiders to understand.
Also we have stereotypes of other countries. Even though it is only a stereotype and not true, we tend to think Americans must be like this or Italians must be like that. The stereotype sometimes thwarts us to accept something that we don’t know well, when we’re looking at something that’s different from our preconception. And, I think many Japanese unconsciously expect American movies to be about joyful stories or happy endings with impressive casts. For European movies, we look for something artistic, dark, literary, and mystic. For Korean movies, unique and interesting stories, or popular Korean actors. Just to be clear, this is just my opinion. I’m not sure of the truth, but I believe many Japanese think like that. Considering all of this, it makes sense that Sam Mendes is not so familiar among Japanese.
His movies are based the every-day issues of the every-day American, and his style is not flashy like other Hollywood movies, such as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” or “The Rock”, which are very popular in Japan. He tends to depict an ordinary issue with a matter-of-fact tone, rather than an entertaining or dramatic tone. Also there is no happy ending. That’s why many Japanese say his movies are somber or make them feel down. I can understand others’ reactions to his films. But I like his works, even though he is not so popular in Japan. Even though I feel down after I watched his movies, it gives me a chance to know or think about something from different angles. Until I watched the movie “American Beauty” I had never thought that many Americans cared about their reputations as much as the Japanese do. Because, I believed Americans valued individualism and didn’t worry about having the respect of people around them. Those were definitely my misconceptions.
According to the web site, “Away We Go,” the recommendation from my teacher, seems to be a romantic comedy. I’m looking forward to seeing Mendes’s new side next March.
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