Reviews

I enjoy Japanese and cross-cultural films such as Fear And Trembling and Cherry Blossoms. I do find some of the cultural and cultural-misunderstanding cliches to be embarrassing and dated.

Japanese Story started with the mix-up in the exchange of business cards and uncomfortable bowing. Considering that the company people have a reasonable grasp of Japanese this scene appears to be inserted for the benefit of the audience rather than being essential to the story.

People acquainted with the comedy TV series Seachange may notice that these are very similar to those of the meeting of Mr Jelly (also played by John Howard) and Yido (also the son of a rich businessman) in Balls and Frigin' Good Luck (S1E9), and there is a further similarity in the 'waiting for Japanese man to finish swimming' scene. Fortunately, the film quickly moves on from this introduction.

Considering where she is employed, Sandy seems remarkably naive about, and unprepared for, driving into the sandy desert. Her warnings to Hiromitsu about the dangers of being in the outback are not consistent with her actions.

If these faults can be overlooked, and I had to consciously ignore them, then there is still a story worth watching, and Toni Collette does well with it.

Japanese Story is vastly better than the dated Seven Nights In Japan.

The episodes may follow the formula two concurrent investigations, but there is more to make them much more interesting.

Salvo Montalbano is often unduly critical directly to his staff, but despite that he cares about them and they care about him. Loyalty is important in their relationships, both at the professional and interpersonal level. Montalbano's relationship with his girlfriend, Livia, is frequently tempestuous and never results in marriage, and Montalbano's selfishness often determines his course of action. He will sometimes forget a meeting he has arranged with her, and sometimes lie about what he is doing to suit his own purposes, but he is nearly always faithful to her, and she to him. It is his deputy, Mimi, who is the womaniser.

Good food is one of his main pleasures in life and features in many episode (and Livia is not a good cook), and when his regular trattoria closes because the owner is following his doctor's advice, Montalbano's first response is concern over what he will do to find good food. Salvo and Livia have words over Salvo's housekeeper and cook, who is the mother of a man that Salvo has put in prison.

Montalbano has to work within a system where there is corruption at many levels, from a member of his staff that leaks news items to his brother in the media, to those in the wider system that will leak information to the mafia. At times this makes him feel like giving up police work, but, of course, he does not go through with this.

A time in the life of a Real Estate Agent, currently unsuccessful in sales, relationships with son and ex-wife ("This divorce isn't working for me.") and life seen from Real Estate Agent's views and phraseology. This and several exchanges give a comedic slant to the film that the characters are unaware of, or perhaps only vaguely aware of, but there is also poignancy as a friend leads him into a second chance at life.

The balance of subtle humour and poignancy kept me watching.