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The Worst Film Ever

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A real Australian gem. Fantastic scenery of the Pilbara and remote areas of Australia. Fabulous gorges and deep water holes. It is a movie that develops from a two dimensional individuals into two complex, interesting and amazing people. A coming of age movie where two people take a journey and grow up some more. I loved it. It uses the huge expanses of the outback as the backdrop. I love the place having spent some time there and the film really does it justice. You see a reflection of the Australian desert and outback through the eyes of a person from another culture and another way of life. Japanese city meets Australian outback. It impresses with the sense of wonder at the size of it all and the adventure.

Japanese Story (2003)Toni Collette is such a natural on screen, ranging from bemused to chagrined with a single change in her face, and seeming so vividly present in every scene, she almost makes this movie work. Her male counterpart, little known Japanese actor Gotaro Tsunashima, is meant to be an uptight and restrained contrast, but he may take that intention the wrong way, making his character bland on screen. That the two have to first dislike each other, and then not dislike each other very much, depends on some kind of magic between the actors, or characters, which just doesn't exist.And then there is the plot. On paper it even looks a bit thin--two young people arrive on a mining island in the Pacific for different reasons (one from Australia, the other from Japan), and after butting cultural heads a bit, they head off in their Land Cruiser to an isolated part of the barren landscape. So far we follow. But the plot depends on them getting stranded out there, very far from everything (but perplexingly still in cell phone range!), and so the writers concoct some kind of need, which isn't really clear to me, to drive farther, mostly because he tells her to. And they do get stranded.And then they get stuck. Oh, right. And they spend the night together, he rises out of his selfish haze, they become lovers, and then, in a tropical paradise part of the coast, tragedy strikes. And there is the necessary coming to terms with all the repercussions. The final, long long shot of Collette in the airport is, by this point, utter hedonism on the director's part, and it dulls an already dragging film.You might be able to take in the unusual setting for the film, and enjoy Collette's strengths, and make it through okay.

Weak plot, no character development, seriously dumb dialogs. The male main character is a shame for all men and as previously mentioned its a humiliation of the Japanese: he shows weakness so many times it is very annoying, (spoiler alert) even in the "sex scene" I felt he is being raped by the female character. I did not even get how these two developed any chemistry over extremely silly conversations, the intellectual level was like listening to 4 year old not adults. The only value in the film is some nice scenic shots, however it dragged out the movie which made it even more boring. The closing scene is completely illogical. I do not get how could this receive so many Australian awards ( I live in Australia for the last 3 years) it is not even a good film on the Australian scene, watch Candy if you would like to see a good OZ movie, but this is outrageously horrible, I wish I could vote 0 to drop the current rating even more.

I actually don't know why I watched the whole thing. It's very serious and awkward. Especially the sex scene when the woman takes off her clothes, then puts HIS pants on? I'm not sure what was going on here, but I just couldn't get into it. Someone said it was a lot like the Painted Veil, and yes, maybe so except for the fact that I liked the Painted Veil. There's little music. And the whole movie was just bad and poorly put together... it doesn't seem very cohesive to me. It didn't make sense.... after they do it while she wears his pants, she asks to get her things back from his room. So she carries her bra, in her hands, out in the open, back to her car. I've been stuck in the desert before too and everyone knows you put rocks or sticks or something hard underneath the tires... they just clowned around. BAD movie. Bad. Bad. Bad.