02-23-2013, 03:45 PM
So, Mr. Chiba came all the way from Japan and is in the movie for maybe two minutes top.
When low-budget film makers write their movies, the goal is to keep costs down by keeping locations down. The dream is to shoot it all in one location. I give Paranormal Experience as a prime example. That whole thing was shot in the director's house. Since, I went out to interview Mr. Chiba, I know this whole film was shot at the abandoned Fung Lum's restaurant at Universal studios. But even if you didn't have that information, you would guess imediately that they didn't move around much. The majority of the movie takes place in the in the main dining room with titular Sushi Girl lying on the dining table. It almost comes across as a stage play they are in that room so much. Or maybe just a bunch of soliloquies strung together in order to give all the actors there moments for scenery chewing.
It is an impressive cast. Tony Todd plays the lead. Mark Hamill plays the sadistic crow in his first film since well, Return of the Jedi. Micheal Beahn and James Fahey make appearances. Beahn just long enough to walk on screen and get shot. And Noah Hathaway, the kid from Neverending story, plays Fish.
Pretty much everyone is a caricature especially Hamill who they have adorned with a yellow fright wig and ill fitting glasses. He also plays the gay side of his character to the hilt. Jeff Fahey's time spent on screen is spent slavering over diamonds.
Sushi Girl is a film put together for a purpose. It's to give the director a chance to direct and for the actors to act their hearts out. The plotting is a convoluted mess that left me asking why the hell did they do that a lot.
Maybe I'm biased by actually being at the setting for the movie and knowing that the exit to the prison is across the parking lot from the restaurant. And the site of the big jewelry heist was downstairs at the loading dock for the restaurant. But even if I didn't know these things, I would still feel hemmed in by almost the entire film being around the Sushi table. And eating food off a naked women has never struck me as all that appetizing or erotic.
When low-budget film makers write their movies, the goal is to keep costs down by keeping locations down. The dream is to shoot it all in one location. I give Paranormal Experience as a prime example. That whole thing was shot in the director's house. Since, I went out to interview Mr. Chiba, I know this whole film was shot at the abandoned Fung Lum's restaurant at Universal studios. But even if you didn't have that information, you would guess imediately that they didn't move around much. The majority of the movie takes place in the in the main dining room with titular Sushi Girl lying on the dining table. It almost comes across as a stage play they are in that room so much. Or maybe just a bunch of soliloquies strung together in order to give all the actors there moments for scenery chewing.
It is an impressive cast. Tony Todd plays the lead. Mark Hamill plays the sadistic crow in his first film since well, Return of the Jedi. Micheal Beahn and James Fahey make appearances. Beahn just long enough to walk on screen and get shot. And Noah Hathaway, the kid from Neverending story, plays Fish.
Pretty much everyone is a caricature especially Hamill who they have adorned with a yellow fright wig and ill fitting glasses. He also plays the gay side of his character to the hilt. Jeff Fahey's time spent on screen is spent slavering over diamonds.
Sushi Girl is a film put together for a purpose. It's to give the director a chance to direct and for the actors to act their hearts out. The plotting is a convoluted mess that left me asking why the hell did they do that a lot.
Maybe I'm biased by actually being at the setting for the movie and knowing that the exit to the prison is across the parking lot from the restaurant. And the site of the big jewelry heist was downstairs at the loading dock for the restaurant. But even if I didn't know these things, I would still feel hemmed in by almost the entire film being around the Sushi table. And eating food off a naked women has never struck me as all that appetizing or erotic.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit