THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 30, 1995 TAG: 9505270069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
``PICTURE BRIDE'' is an exquisite, gentle little film that entertains while teaching us about other cultures. Directed by Japanese-American Kayo Hatta, its very simplicity is a winning quality when the characters are fleshed out this completely.
It is a romantic drama of rural life that is simultaneously harsh and lyrical.
The setting is the sugar cane fields of Hawaii in 1918. They provide a rough existence for Japanese emigrants, many of whom have fled Japan for the promise of a tropical paradise.
Youki Kudoh, a former teen idol in Japan, is a frail, but strong, beauty in the title role - a real steel magnolia. She is wooed from her native Japan by a Hawaiian sugar cane worker who sends her a handsome photograph of himself, accompanied by poetic letters about a faraway paradise.
When she arrives in Hawaii, she learns that he is 20 years older than his photograph and lives in a one-room shack. She rebuffs his amorous advances on their wedding night and begins immediately slaving away to save enough money for passage back to Japan.
Akira Takayama delivers a sympathetic and underplayed performance as her regretful husband. He is a man who is sorry for the deception but merely hopes for a better life - and for love. He, in turn, is disappointed in her. He expected a robust country girl who could help with the work but, instead, gets this frail city beauty.
The best performance in the film, and an impressive one it is, is delivered by Tamlyn Tomita as the strong country woman who befriends this city girl and teaches her how to survive the cane fields, and more. In turn, she also gives the virginal husband pointers on how to woo and win his new wife.
The film is cheaply produced but has an abundance of emotional input. It is obviously a labor of love for all concerned.
Of special interest to film buffs is a surprise cameo appearance by legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune as a a kind of traveling entertainer who brings diversion to the rural workers with his ``talk stories'' - narration for primitive silent movies. It's an illuminating picture of what film meant to people around the world, even in its infancy.
Mifune is unquestionably the most famous Japanese actor in the world today, known particularly for his work with director Akira Kurosawa, including ``Seven Samurai'' and ``Rashomon.'' The fact that he would contribute to a small film such as this is refreshing.
Tragic field fires and other calamities afflict the characters, but there is always a calm, collected strength that perseveres. Eventually, the heroine takes on a likeness to the memorable Pearl Buck character in ``The Good Earth.''
``Picture Bride'' is by no means a great film. It's simplicity make it easily forgotten. For the time you are in the theater, though, it is a highly enjoyable, and sensitive, one. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Picture Bride''
Cast: Youki Kudoh, Akira Takayama, Tamlyn Tomita, Toshiro Mifune
Director, writer: Kayo Hatta
MPAA rating: PG-13 (adult situation, mature treatment)
Mal's rating: three stars
Locations: Lynnhaven Mall ILLUSTRATION: MIRAMAX photo
Youki Kudoh, left, and Akira Takayama star in ``Picture Bride,'' a
romantic drama of rural life in the Hawaiian cane fields of 1918.
by CNB