Tokyo Cowboy (1994) : Western Utopia of East
Cinema has become a powerful medium and when it was not there, people used to imagine through the books but cinema brings visuals before them and represents story in such a way that it looks real for the time, scenes are moving on screen. But cinema has after effects also and we the audience treat so many things real, shown in the films and start making a world on that basis. We see a group of people/countries as bad in the films and we imagine they really are bad in real life and our opinion becomes biased. Same way we follow good impressions about places, people and time periods. Not that it happens only with audience, having less intellect but almost every living person suffers somewhere from this syndrome that makes opinion or imagines something which is based on his seeing of the films. Hollywood has been the major brand ambassador for USA to spread her impact far and wide in the world.
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“No Ogawa” is also such an audience who is deeply affected by western films. “No”, a Japanese, works in a restaurant in Tokyo in Japan. Since childhood, he has been watching western cowboy films and he is highly fascinated with the image of a cowboy. He thinks them as real. For so many years he has been exchanging letters with a girl, Kate Beaty, living in Canada. She had sent him a photo, where she is dressed like a cowgirl and is riding a horse. No, thinks she is the perfect cowgirl and often imagine him as a cowboy.
Often he starts dreaming and sees himself as cowboy and scenes of the films he has watched, occupy him as leading cowboy. This day dreaming results in carelessness towards his job and he loses it. He is fed up with his situation and he decides to go to Canada to meet his Cowgirl. Though she has not written him for years but he has her address and the photo she had sent him.
No starts his journey and reaches at the address but to his astonishments he does not find Kate but her mother, Mrs Beaty, there. When he shows him the photo and tells him about his pen friendship with Kate, she thinks for sometime and then allows him to come inside to stay with her.
She tells him that her daughter lives in other house. No goes to meet Kate and finds that she lives with another girl, Shelly. Though both the girls welcome him and enjoy his company but he is disappointed to know that Kate has no interest left in that cow boy or cowgirl thing and now she has become an artist. He comes back to mrs Beaty.
Mrs Beaty has other plans and she sees some hope through “No”. She is disturbed because of the relationship between two girls and she thinks perhaps No can raise some affection in the heart of Kate and that can change her attitude towards Men. Atmosphere in their city is not very supportive for same gender based relationships and Kate has become completely reclusive and she does not like to entertain anybody from outside world. She has become very temperamental also. When she sees “No” with her mother in a departmental store then she becomes furious because she understands her mother’s plans.
No, meet Bill, a postman also who introduces himself as an Indian. Bill makes friends with No also and makes a ” five points programme” for “No”, so that he becomes a Cowboy. Shelly, on the other hand, starts taking interest in No and his adventures and she becomes agree to help him. Bill likes Shelly but she is committed to Kate only.
Shelly’s psychology is not affected in bad manner by her lesbian relationship with Kate and as she is a teacher, she still enjoys meeting with people. While Kate remains alone in her studio and remains busy in her artistic works of paining and sculpture.
Shelly plans to invite their old familiar people and she convinces Kate also. Some racist friends ridicule, No and one person brings him in a pathetic situation. Bill helps “No”. “No” also start liking Shelly and in his dreams girl’s face has been changed from Kate to Shelly. He wants to present her a Kimono. In the costume party, No becomes woman by wearing Kimono and while Shelly dances with “No”, Kate comes there and she realises that Shelly is bending towards “No”, and she punctures their ballon of new adventure.
No’s illusion is vanished and he sees that his dream of becoming cowboy was not real. He leaves the place and goes back.
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Its not very often, that we come across a film, which is not known much, or work of a director who is not known at all and when we watch the film, it makes a place in our heart with its presentation and over all treatment. Kathy Garneau, a chemical engineer by education, does that with her film “Tokyo Cowboy”.
She maintains the flow of story throughout the film with same speed. There are no twists and film walks ahead in light manner. With humour she tackles the problems come in the daily lives of the characters. Ideological difference and difference between Eastern and Western life styles comes on surface but that’s small part of film and life of characters and film goes ahead. Director catches very small things. Its common in cold western countries to wear socks inside the house but it does not prevail in hot eastern countries and when Kate objects that why “No” is walking on his toes and that too with naked feet having no socks on? He says that he has washed one pair of socks and another pair he used outside of the house with shoes and he tells that in Japan its tradition not to bring outside shoes inside the house. He says we have to leave outside shoes outside of the house as they can bring dirt inside the house. Outside world and its affairs should not affect the inner world and its peace and sanctity!!!! Through characters, Director reveals that eastern people believe in these esoteric hypotheses and western people believe in more practical things.
Difference between East and West is shown in subtle ways through No’s behaviour and other characters. “No”, being eastern, takes nice manners as proof of close friendship and often he is hurt with the facts that while he is so close to these ladies but they can say no to him in very direct manner. In his opinion he has become friend and does not realise that to talk nicely is not a sign of becoming close friends and definitions are different in different parts of the world and girls think he intrudes in their lives.
Director has used black and white colours for showing the dreamy scenes of No and that brings a charming attraction in the film. This kind of arrangement, differentiate between dreams and main stem of story.
Hiromito Ida, inspite of his squinted eyes will steal your heart with his performance. Anna Fergusan as Mrs Beaty, Christianne Hirt as Kate Beaty, Janne Mortil as Shelly and Alec Willows as Bill do full justice to their roles. These actors are not known for films and their works are mostly related to TV.
Nice cinematography, pleasant sound track, simple narration, suitable performances and wonderful direction and editing, all ingredients make “Tokyo Cowboy” an example of good cinema. Its a slow intoxicating agent and smoothly it will grip your visual senses and will overwhelm you at the end by its magic.
Watch and hardly one can repent on this choice!
Tags: English - Other, French
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
This film just hit the Netflix queue.
What a strange world. There is so much I disagree with in your review, which is why I am so interested in this film. The Canada that I know has always been more accepting of same-sex couples than the US, and I don’t allow shoes to be worn in my home because this is how I was raised as no one in Canada does, either (why track dirt and snow into the home?)
Why do I think this is a strange world? Because someone on the opposite side of the world just reviewed a movie made in my mother’s home country, revealing things that I was completely unaware of to me. This is why I love PFC…
t!,
Kathy covers small things of daily life in an interesting manner. Most impressive thing is the smooth flow of the film. Perhaps its fate of film and director that film is not known much , inspite of having same degree of class as Lost in Translation has. Perhaps bigger names matter everywhere.
I might have missed many things in my first viewing. Physically I was extremely tired before I started watching this film. But film kept me interested throughout the viewing.
Re: Shoes, I think its for socks. No, talks about the socks he used with shoes, outside of house. But he gives another dimension to the discussion by saying the philosophy of “inside and outside”.
The country, it covers is the country you have seen closely and your review will reveal much more about the film. Hope you see it soon and write review soon.:)
sounds like nice movie.
RK,i felt lost in translation is highly n highly overrated. its strictly average. nothing great.
Phoenixnu: Yes its (TC) a nice film. Its simplicity and smooth flow will please you.
Re: Lost in translation, I m afraid, I have some disagreement. its great or not but its a good film. thoroughly entertaining and its different than hollywood’s other films.
It has that impact which we get after listening music of Nora Johnes. A different touch.
situations dependent plot and characters seiged in those situations. Nothing is intentional and yet one thinks, is it fine whats happening there.
Funny situations, few funny characters and contrast pyschology and time to time reminders by/of respective spouses. Both know that after sometime it will remain like a sweet memory of past. LIT, is a good departure from regular hollywoodian cinema. Even if we dont know its from daughter of FF Copploa, it works as a good film.
RK, i think this is your first non-hindi movie review.. right? i’ll have to rent it just for that :D
striker:
rent it for any sake:)
there are so many hindi films to discuss.
:d
Striker:
pls see it for any sake.:)
there are so many hindi films to be discussed:d