"Japanese Story is a sensitive, caringly structured and powerfully performed love drama which not only probes our consciences about humanity in all its diversity, but is a testament to the complexity of individuals behind the outer layers of ethnicity. The title is deliberately simple, and the irony inherent in it – that it’s not the ethnic outer layer of people but their inner workings that is who they are - is at the film’s heart." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "A powerhouse of a love story, Japanese Story is an emotional tour de force as it canvasses how love crosses all boundaries of culture, language, tradition and social taboos. The premise of two people from vastly different cultures being forced together may be simple, but the subtext and the consequences are far reaching." "Working successfully on two levels, Japanese Story is a potently engaging film, offering food for thought with its multi-cultural themes and satisfying resolution." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "It’s become a cliché to refer to a performer as “fearless”, with the term now slapped onto anybody who’s got the gall to get their gear off on screen. And while that takes undeniable grit and courage, there’s a kind of nakedness that’s much more confronting and admirable: the stripping back of the layers to get to the bare, unadorned truth of a character. Toni Collette is practically a master at it, and while she often hides behind big, broad characters (Muriel’s Wedding, Dirty Deeds, Velvet Goldmine), she always gets right to the heart of the matter. Japanese Story is one of her most strikingly honest performances, and that’s really saying something." Erin Free FILMINK MAGAZINE "It could have been maudlin and predictable: yet another road movie in the red heart of Australia, with a tiresome culture clash dynamic. But Japanese Story is so much more than that, at once spectacular, beautiful, beguiling and mysterious, and startling." "Recent successes at international film festivals suggest that Japanese Story is one of the few Australians movies of recent times able to travel well and connect with overseas audiences. It's not hard to see why. It's one of the best Australian films of the last few years." Antony Loewenstein FAIRFAX PRESS

“Breathtaking, emotionally rich, and simply stunning… Toni Collette’s brave, fierce and extraordinary performance is its heart and soul. She is dazzling here, both tough and vulnerable, and fiercely passionate in one of the best performances of the year… is a film that is unexpected in its honesty and human ferocity. A truly spellbinding and luminous masterwork. Paul Fischer DARK HORIZONS “…is at last a vehicle worthy of her enormous talent. (Toni Collette)…so uniformly excellent in everything - script, cinematography, performance, score…a ravishing piece of cinema…a compassionate, humanistic work, told with clarity and simplicity…it deserves to be a great success - because it's not just a Japanese or Australian story, but a universal one.” Lee Tulloch VOGUE “…Sue Brooks reveals her directorial skill in sparse lengthy scenes that have the intimacy of theatre and gravity of opera. With subtlety and grace screenwriter Alison Tilson scripts moments of true remorse and forgiveness…. The film reaches an emotional climax beyond all expectation…Ultimately it’s the strength of Collette that wins out… she takes us across a full spectrum of emotion…” Rachael Turk IF MAGAZINE “A cross cultural love story, “Japanese Story develops into a powerfully emotional experience thanks to a career best performance by Toni Collette… Collette comes into her own, dominating the film with a bold, intelligent and very physical performance… " David Stratton VARIETY

At A Glance There's a chorus of critical acclaim right across the nation for Toni Collettes performance in "Japanese Story" and deservedly so. Collette whose career got off to a huge start with "Muriels Wedding" is one hell of a performer and this is one hell of a performance. And just in case you've forgotten how far the AFI Award winner has come from those days as Muriel Heslop and "Muriels Wedding" here's a reminder of her outstanding performances. "Lillian's Story", "Spotswood", "Cosi" and "The Boys", for which she received her second AFI Award, this time as Best Supporting Actress. They were only teasers, there were bigger things to come and all would stamp her authority as an actress capable of sparkling no matter what the role. Like her Academy Award nomination for "Sixth Sense". Directed by M Night Shyamalan [Signs] Collette appeared alongside box office mega star Bruce Willis and just about stole the show. Next up was "Shaft" a remake which saw her alongside Samuel L Jackson, Richard Roundtree and Vanessa Williams. Things were really on the up and her performance in "About A Boy" playing as a troubled single mum certainly kept British super star Hugh Grant on his toes. Her next role reunited her with Samuel L Jackson and a young gun named Ben Affleck in the energy charged thriller "Changing Lanes". All were memorable performances but prior to "Japanese Story" there were two more performances that Collette would shine in. The first was the Australian production "Dirty Deeds" where she shared the spotlight with the inimitable Bryan Brown, the great Sam Neill and a former sitcom star turned movie star Mr John Goodman. Her role as Sharon endeared her to a new legion of fans. Then there's that small role in one of the best womens films seen in many a year, "The Hours". Her appearance alongside such greats as Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman where she played the part of Kittie, Laura Browns neighbour was brief but decidedly brilliant. "The Hours" may not have been her biggest role but it certainly showcased her marvellous talents as it did for two other women who are often over looked in this film. The first is acclaimed British actress Miranda Richardson [seen recently in "The Rage In Placid Lake"] and the other was a rising talent Clare Danes ["Igby Goes Down"]. Movie fans may be interested to know that unless fate had stepped in "Japanese Story" may not have ever made it onto the big screen. How is that so?
Writer Alison Tilson recalls, "I met with Sharon Connolly from Film Australia who asked if I'd be interested in writing a script about a Japanese man and an Australian woman. Sharon had recently spent time working in Japan and was keen to have somebody explore the many tensions that such a relationship might ignite. It didn't seem right for me, so we just had a very nice lunch and chatted about the meaning of life and everything else. But as we were parting she said, 'Well, it's a pity you didn't want to write it because I just had this amazing vision of a Japanese guy driving alone through the desert. Just imagine, you'd be wondering why he was there and what he was doing!' I was so struck by this fabulous image that I changed my mind." Those who see "Japanese Story" will be most thankful Tilson did indeed change her mind for this is a most enriching and rewarding film. "I find it terribly hard to become involved in a project unless I completely fall in love with it," noted Maslin, "and that's exactly what happened with Japanese Story. We had all worked together on Road to Nhill, and survived the experience, and wanted to collaborate again. Then Alison showed me a script that she'd been working on for a few years, which happened to be "Japanese Story". I thought it the most extraordinary piece of writing and together we decided to make it our next feature." "Japanese Story" is a mutli layered film. "For me," noted Maslin, "surfaces, and what lies beneath them, is a key theme. The fact that Sandy is a geologist is intricately linked in a thematic sense to her story as she lives a life of surfaces. But through this adventure and the extreme landscape encircling her, she stops just looking and starts to really see. And it's interesting that it happens amidst that landscape because that very landscape is renowned for the richness of its depths. Even though you're surrounded by desert, you might be standing above a massive sub-artesian water basin, so there's always this incredible complexity just below the surface."
"It's bizarre," mused director Sue Brooks. "We walk across this earth without stopping to think what's underneath, and the same applies to the people in this film. But really Sandy's no more closed than any one of us. We're all somewhat factious and engrossed in our hectic lives and in filling those lives with activity and, to a degree, self-importance. We rarely take stock. But in the end, we're all just souls. There's a moment in "Japanese Story" where Sandy and Hiromitsu are exposed, a moment where it's just them and the universe and that's the moment where they make a connection. But I think for most of us such a moment rarely happens because the daily grind is safer."
It's all well and good to have a solid script and a talented director but there's no film unless you have a cast and there's no success unless you have the right cast and the first and last choice for the lead was Toni Collette. "Basically we had a dream and a vision and then we had to determine how on earth we could achieve that," recollected Tilson. Maslin continued. "Normally you send a script and probably wouldn't hear anything for three weeks, phoning at least ten times in the process, until you're finally told that the actor has been sent the script, but then you may not hear for another couple of months and on it goes. But in this instance, literally within a few days of that script leaving our hands, we received a call advising that Toni had read it and wanted to meet us, so Sue Brooks and I caught the next plane to Sydney. Toni spent the first hour telling us scene by scene what she loved about the script so we just sat and shut-up! From that point we knew that in Toni we had an actor who understood both the script and the part and wanted to come on the journey with us, and that was a wonderful experience."
But finding a male lead was a little elusive. Several trips to Japan ensued. "We watched so many films," reminisced Brooks, "we just poured over them. We had a casting agent in Japan who scrutinised their books and sent us tapes. After a while we had boxes of videos and eventually made a short list. But then we met Gotaro Tsunmashima and thought he was absolutely wonderful. But for a while part of me was still hanging onto this notion that he should be older. But eventually I decided, 'No, this is the right way to go.' Now I can't even imagine that I once thought he should have been older. Gotaro is the only actor I can see playing the part and I just think, 'yeah he is Hiromitsu.'"
Collette and Tsunmashima play so well on the screen as the barriers between their characters slowly disolve. It's two scintilating performances. There are so many plus's for "Japanese Story" and there are two other standouts. The first is the wonderful landscape that "Japanese Story" is set in. Overseas they should go wild about the beauty of our far north west. The other is the magnificent score that flits and bounces of every moment in "Japanese Story". Composer Elizabeth Drake [an award-winning composer and sound artist for theatre, film, dance and radio] has truly captured the heart and the soul of the story. Look for the soundtrack [from Move Music] at all good record stores.
Japanese Story is Directed by Sue Brooks ["The Drover's Wife", "Road To Nhill"], Produced by Sue Maslin ["Thanks Girls and Goodbye", "Koories and Cops", "The Road To Nhill"], Written by Alison Tilson ["Rabbit Proof Fence"], Edited by Jil Bilcock Australia most awarded film editor ["Moulin Rouge', "Strictly Ballroom", "The Dish", "American Quilt", "Muriels Wedding" and "Road To Perdition"] while the soundtrack was Composed by award winning theatre, radio, dance and film composer Elizabeth Drake ["Road To Nhill", "The Way Back", "Lost", "Breathing Underwater"].
The cast includes Toni Collette ["Lillian's Story", "Hotel Splenide", "Spotswood"], Gotaro Tsunashima [ABC TV's "Changi"], Lynette Curran ["Road To Nhill", "Alvin Purple", "Oscar and Lucinda", "The Year My Voice Broke"], Matthew Dyktynski ["Heaven's Burning", "Love and Other Catastrophes", "Road To Nhill"], Justine Clarke ["Mad Max III", "Bootmen", "Danny Deckchair] and a poignant debut by Yumiko Tanaka as Tachibana Hiromitsu's wife Yukiko [Yumiko has appeared on stage in "Forty Carats", "Pericles" and "Twelth Night" and made her Japanese television debut in 1990]. The Story Soundtrack on the Move Records label in all good record stores Sandy, a feisty Australian geologist lands the unwanted task of showing a Japanese businessman Hiromitsu around the mines and deserts of the Pilbara, with a view to selling his company the unique geology software she has been developing. Hiromitsu initially mistakes her for his driver, and demands they trek to the desert, blissfully unaware of the dangers. Against the background of this elemental Australian landscape, these two strangers journey deeper and deeper into the West Australian desert, leaving more and more of what they know about each other behind. Slowly their passion is ignited. Their attraction to each other grows. Inevitably the become lovers. Their journey is just beginning but where will it lead them? Sandy longs for someone special. Will she find it in Hiromitsu? Some stories can change your life. This is Sandy's story. Sandy's "Japanese" story. A special story of two people from two cultures. Two people from different sides of the world. Two lovers. The Verdict "A beautiful story in a beautiful setting, the Australian outback. Toni Collette and Gatora Tsunashima shine. This is a most passionate perform from Toni Collette, one that demands to be seen. Powerful, emotive and tragic, "Japanese Story" is a gem of a film. 2003 winner of 8 AFI Awards including Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Original Music Score and Best Director. Very Highly Recommended." The Cast

Toni Collette Gatora Tsunashima Matthew Dyktynski Lynette Curran Yumiko Tanaka Justine Clarke Kate Atkinson John Howard Bill Young Reg Evans

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Sandy Edwards Tachibana Hiromitsu Baird Mum Yukiko Jane Jackie Richards Jimmy Smithers Bloke in Row Boat

The Crew Directed by Sue Brooks Producer Sue Maslin Writer Alison Tilson Co-producers Sue Brooks and Alison Tilson Director of Photography Ian Baker Editor Jill Bilcock Casting by Dina Mann Score Composed by Elizabeth Drake Production Design by Paddy Reardon Costume Designer Margot Wilson Sound Editor Livia Ruzic Run Time 106 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2003 - Palace Films Australia - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2003 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved