Picture Bride (1994)

Director:

Kayo Hatta

Writers:

Kayo Hatta (screenplay)
Kayo Hatta (story)

Release Date:

5 May 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Hawaii, 1918. She left Japan for a man she had never met, in a new world she couldn't imagine... America.

Plot:

The story of 16-year-old Riyo who journeys to Hawaii in 1918 to marry a man she has never met, except...

Plot Keywords:

Hawaii | Japanese | Asian American | Arranged Marriage | Katana Sword

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Youki Kudoh	...	Riyo
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Kanzaki
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Kana
Akira Takayama	...	Matsuji
Yôko Sugi	...	Aunt Sode
Christianne Mays	...	Miss Pieper
Toshirô Mifune	...	The Benshi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Ashby	...	McCullum
James Grant Benton	...	Antone
Glenn Cannon	...	Mer. Pieper
Lito Capiña	...	Augusto
Peter Clark	...	Christian minister
Warren Fabro	...	Felipe
Michael Hasegawa	...	Immigration officer
Kyle Kakuno	...	Yamamoto
Moe Keale	...	Hawaiian fisherman
Kati Kuroda	...	Yayoi
Jessica Louie	...	Kei-chan
Natasha Mamiya	...	Kei-chan
Melvin Miranda	...	Miguel
Keiji Morita	...	Photographer
Hatsuko Otsuka	...	Fumi
Dawn Saito	...	Geisha
Riki Sugimoto	...	Gambler
Traci Toguchi	...	Uto

Also Known As:

Bijo photo (Japan)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sensuality.

Runtime:

95 min | 98 min

Country:

Japan | USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Waialua, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Cecile Films

Quotes:

Riyo: [after receiving her work payment] This can't be right! There should be more. I worked so hard...
Matsuji: Let's see.
[shuffles through Riyo's money]
Matsuji: No, it's all there. 65 cents a day minus things you buy at the plantation store. That comes to eleven dollars for the month. See, going back to Japan isn't as easy as you thought.

A poignant and emotional portrayal of indentured servitude and arranged marriage in turn-of-the-century Hawaii.

Picture Bride paints a realistic and moving portrait of what it must have been like for Japanese men brought to Hawaii at the turn of the 19th Century to work in the sugar cane fields. Most came planning to return to their homeland, but few were ever able to do so. Equally movingly portrayed is the fate of Japanese women, some as young as fifteen or sixteen, who were sent as promised brides to men they knew only through photographs that often were 10 or 15-years out of date, or were of some other younger man. They too worked long hard hours in the fields, while fighting homesickness and to preserve their dignity.

Director Hatta's portrayal of one picture bride's courage and perseverance struggling to survive in a strange land and alien society under great physical duress, is, ultimately, inspirational and uplifting--a story of moral and cultural survival. There is a grandness and magnificence of sweep of character and landscape in Picture Bride that captures the alluring beauty as well as violent harshness of colonial Hawaii. This is a film that is emotionally, intellectually and artistically rewarding.