David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Takehiro Hira’

Rental Family

Director: Hikari

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Please note this film is mostly in Japanese with English Subtitles

Ever since Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for Darren Aronofsky’s brilliant film The Whale, he has experienced a career resurgence after his millennial high with the Mummy franchise opposite Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener).

After brief appearance in director Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon, it is refreshing to see Brendan Fraser take on a lead role in a fascinating Japanese drama called Rental Family shot entirely in Tokyo.

Fraser plays the cumbersome but lovable American actor Philip Vanderploeg from Minnesota who is literally trying to make it big in Japan. Japanese director Hikari who also directed the brilliant Netflix series Beef about two Korean Americans in Los Angeles who have a road rage fight. Hikari presents an elegant feminine touch in directing Rental Family about some of the bizarre practices of Japanese culture.

Vanderploeg plays a rent an hour actor for the happiness agency headed by Shinja Tada played by Takehiro Hira (Captain America: Brave New World, Gran Turismo) with the help of his able assistant and fixer Akiro Nakajima superbly played by Mari Yamamoto who as an actor also produced the excellent series Tokyo Vice.

As a noticeable American, Vanderploeg is hired out to be a make believe husband for a fake wedding so that the bride can hide her sexuality from her parents. He is also hired to play a fake reporter for an ageing Japanese film star with dementia. Most significantly he is hired to play an American fake father to a young Eurasian girl Mia expertly played by Shannon Mahina Gorman.

Vanderploeg becomes emotionally attached to his make believe clients. He becomes fond of the ageing Japanese film star who is keen to escape from his over protective daughter. He loves playing a fake father to Mia as a means for the young girl to gain admittance into a posh Tokyo school.

Soon, Vanderploeg’s cover is blown, while he is attempting to navigate an unsual Japanese culture in which payment for make believe emotions is a common social practice.

Hikari as a director captures the mysterious allure of Japan as well as the densely populated bustle of metropolitan Tokyo with beautiful cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka and production design by Norhiro Isoda and Masako Takayama.

Brendan Fraser is excellent as the actor playing a version of himself in a foreign exotic country with unbelievable customs. Rental Family is a fascinating drama about fake relations and real emotions and is highly recommended viewing for those that love Japanese culture and films.

Rental Family gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is worth seeing for those that enjoyed films like Babel and Lost in Translation.

Captain America: Brave New World

Director: Julius Onah

Cast: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Sebastian Stan

Running Time: 1 hour 58 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10  

It’s been nine years since the last Captain America film and a lot has changed, hence the title of the new film Captain America: Brave New World.

Nigerian born American director Julius Onah takes the helm of this Marvel film with Anthony Mackie (Detroit, Gangster Squad, The Hurt Locker) in the lead role as the new Captain America Sam Wilson opposite Oscar nominee and Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford (Witness, Star Wars, as American President Thaddeus Ross, who is desperately trying to piece the world back together post Avengers: End Game.

Anthony Mackie does a brilliant job as the new Captain America complete with a new shield and some really cool gadgets along with his young sidekick Falcon played by Danny Ramirez (Top Gun Maverick) as Joaquin Torres. Mackie and Ramirez make a good team as they battle the so called evil American President played with considerable irritability by Harrison Ford. President Ross is trying to negotiate a special deal for the celestial island in the Indian Ocean with Japan, France and India, while taking special pills for his heart and trying to retain his equanimity.  

Things go wrong for Thaddeus Ross when he survives a strange assassination attempt supposedly by Captain America aka Sam Wilson’s friend Isiah Bradley played by Carl Lumbly (A Cure for Wellness, Men of Honour). Bradley is locked up and then tried to be disposed of by the evil Serpent commander Sidewinder expertly played by Giancarlo Esposito (The Usual Suspects, Do The Right Thing).

All of these characters seem to be out of sync, as the real villain only emerges much later in a complicated narrative concocted by scriptwriters Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Masson. That’s already one too many scriptwriters but fortunately what saves Captain America Brave New World is the appearance of the creepy villain, a shadowy Elephant man type figure named Samuel Sterns expertly played with gothic relish by character actor Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Bricklayer, Nightmare Alley).

Tim Blake Nelson is excellent as the mastermind who manipulates not only Thaddeus Ross and Sam Wilson but the entire Washington establishment. Funny how life is imitating art right now.

With high end production values and Disney’s affluence behind it, Marvel does a decent job of reimagining Captain America in the mid 2020’s. This Brave New World is one that is a media-saturated American society filled with devious misinformation, manipulation and megalomaniacs.

The action is cool, the suits are awesome and there is a big red surprise at the end of the film, so catch Captain America Brave New World in cinemas now.

Captain America Brave New World gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. This film is entertaining, action packed and filled with a unique quirkiness which elevates it firmly into the fantasy realm.

As usual with Marvel films, wait until the very end for a golden nugget.

Recommended viewing for Marvel fans only.

Gran Turismo

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Cast: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Thomas Kretchmann, Geri Horner, Oscar Nominee Djimon Hounsou, Joshua Stradowski, Darren Barnet, Pepe Barroso, Takehiro Hira, Daniel Puig

Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

South African director Neill Blomkamp who scored a hit with the Oscar nominated sci-fi film District 9 in 2009 returns to the big screen with Gran Turismo his new film about a gamer Jann based in Cardiff, Wales who gets selected by Nissan marketing man Danny Moore to be trained as a Formula 1 driver with the encouragement and expertise of his manager Jack Salter wonderfully played by David Harbour (Revolutionary Road, Black Widow, Quantum of Solace).

Gran Turismo features rising British star Archie Madekwe as the young and talented PlayStation gamer Jann Mardenborough who is an expert on the game Gran Turismo. Desperate to escape his Cardiff background and breakaway from his strict footballer father Steve superbly played by Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (In America, Blood Diamond), Jann is soon caught up in the fast paced world of international motor racing as he unknowingly becomes a pawn between Danny Moore who is desperate to please his Tokyo based bosses at Nissan and washed up American racing car driver Jack Salter.

Between Salter and Moore, they nurtured Jann to become not just a formula one driver but a winning one despite the steep and dangerous learning curve that the young man has to go through.

Not as elegant or flashy as director Ron Howard’s excellent film Rush or with as captivating performances as director James Mangold’s Oscar nominated Ford v Ferrari, Gran Turismo stumbles in the beginning as the story battles to finds its feet but once Blomkamp is in the international F1 circuit section of the storyline then the film’s action moves swiftly from Dubai to the racetracks of Europe, then this racing film relinquishes the training wheels.

Unfortunately despite the presence of Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings) as the sharp talking PR man Danny Moore, the male lead of the film lacks the screen power to sustain a two hour feature and at times Archie Madekwe looks lost in such a big film, although his performance is not perfect he battles with a below average script as does his more experienced co-stars.

Fortunately all the incredible racing scenes in Gran Turismo is where this film’s true strength lies and like all films made about motor racing they are primarily aimed at an audience that loves fast cars and cutting edge driving. The talented Blomkamp also has an uncanny ability to incorporate live action sequences with brilliant visual effects and Gran Turismo is no exception. The best part about this film is the razor sharp editing by Austyn Daines and Colby Parker Jr.

If you love motor racing and the PlayStation game Gran Turismo, then catch this film version in cinemas now.

Set in Cardiff, Tokyo, and Dubai and across Europe, Gran Turismo gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. Worth seeing.