Japanese Story 2003

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Refreshingly simple and quiet. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Brooks 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. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: You know, I'm this close, but I can't recommend it. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: 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. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Compelling and edgy. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Flows too quickly past other points where the story needed to slow down to allow the import of what was being said to sink in. Read more

Vic Vogler, Denver Post: Fails to engage us in the lives of its characters because it never really introduces them. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Brooks and screenwriter Alison Tilson pursue a notion of Asian-influenced understatement in their own sunny, big-boned Australian way. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Lots of pictures begin strongly only to lose their focus; this one gains momentum with every sequence -- ambivalent at first, we're firmly hooked by the final frame. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Collette truly has a face the camera loves, and her expressiveness gives substance and symmetry to the uneven Japanese Story. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: As Sofia Coppola did in Lost in Translation, director Sue Brooks here takes the structural elements of cliche fish-out- of-water stories and opposites-attract romances and forms them into something more personal. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Every time Japanese Story threatens to become hackneyed, the movie regains its footing thanks to Collette's lead performance. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Time and space being relative, director Sue Brooks' characters are dwarfed by their environment, their moments made all the more fleeting, and precious, by the black hole of infinity lying at the edge of the screen. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Tsunashima gives a deft performance in a role that starts out as caricature but becomes full-bodied. Collette commands the screen virtually the entire time. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A film of small surprises. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Collette gives as commanding a performance as any this year. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Sue Brooks's film, a stretched-out short story set against the natural sublimity of the Australian wilderness, provides Toni Colette with an opportunity to display her range. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Overcomes a whole array of mystifying improbabilities and unlikely affinities to serve as an emotionally compelling vehicle for Toni Collette. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Starts off promisingly. Eventually, though, it collapses into melodrama. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A poignant, unsettling motion picture that will baffle those who have become used to Hollywood's compact, tidy endings. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is that rare sort of film that is not about what happens, but about what happens then. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: To mildly respect Japanese Story is easy. To enjoy it would require an act of will. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: An underdeveloped film that requires all of [Collette's] ample skills merely to rise to the mediocre. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: What begins as a brusquely stated but rather ordinary romance turns into a meditation on mortality that is harsh, potent and unforgiving. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

David Stratton, Variety: Develops into a powerfully emotional experience thanks to a career-best performance by Toni Collette. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Totally convincing in a physically demanding role, Collette carries the movie on her shoulders -- and that weight is what it's all about. Read more