Tau man ji D (2005)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

Wai-keung Lau
Alan Mak

Writers:

Shuichi Shigeno (comic books) (characters)
Felix Chong (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 June 2005 (China)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It's not what you drive, it's what drives you

Plot:

After winning his first competition, Takumi focuses his attention on drift racing, a sport he has unknowingly perfected while delivering tofu in his father's Toyota AE86.

Plot Keywords:

Tofu | Drunkard | Gas Station | 21st Century | Chinese

Awards:

9 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Shawn Yue	...	Takeshi Nakazato
Edison Chen	...	Ryousuke Takahashi
Jay Chou	...	Takumi Fujiwara
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Bunta 'Tofuman' Fujiwara (as Anthony Wong)
Chapman To	...	Itsuki Tachibana
Tsuyoshi Abe	...	Kenji
Anne Suzuki	...	Natsuki Mogi
Kenny Bee	...	Yuuichi 'Gasman' Tachibana
Liu Keng Hung	...	Seiji Iwaki
Jordan Chan	...	Kyouichi Sudou
Kiyohiko Ueki	...	Iketani
Kazuo Yashiro	...	SpeedStars Member
Miki Kuroiwa	...	Natsuki Mogi's Classmate
Megumi Seitone	...	Natsuki Mogi's Classmate
Sayaka Takizawa	...	Natsuki Mogi's Classmate

Also Known As:

Initial D (Hong Kong: English title)
Initial D - Drift Racer (UK)
Tou wen zi di (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

107 min | Spain:104 min (DVD edition) | 95 min

Country:

China | Hong Kong

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | Australia:M | UK:12A | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-11 | South Korea:15 | Italy:T | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Mt. Akina, Gunma, Japan

Company:

Media Asia Films

Trivia:

According to Anthony Wong (Bunta Fujiwara), in the original script there was a race between Bunta and another racer. Due to time constraints, this was cancelled.

Goofs:

Continuity: A few times in the movie before Takumi blows the engine in the AE86 Trueno you get a shot of the dashboard with the new Tachometer, other times it isn't there.

Quotes:

Bunta Fujiwara: A few years ago, my boy told me he needed glasses, so I took him to an optician. But his eyesight turned out to be 20/20. I told him, "Hey, kid, I'll kick your ass if your kidding me around."

Movie Connections:

Remake of "Inisharu D" (1998)

Soundtrack:

THE WAY OF A MAN

Reminiscent of the original, but what happened to the music?

Overall, I'll have to say right off the bat that as a fan of the original anime I found it somewhat amusing.

There are a few things that the movie does right. The camera angles and the overall feel of the movie was spot-on to the original source material. A particular highlight was the "zoom-in-on-the-eyes" of the loser in one particular race. This was exactly like the anime, and was a great touch.

People might slam Jay Chou, but I thought he did a good job in this. It's rather hard to screw up a character who is generally bored and half-asleep (as he is portrayed in the anime).

There are a lot of small changes here and there, such as Bunta being a drunkard for comedy relief, and the complete lack of Keisuke (his character was combined with Nakazato). Or the fact that the anime Nakazato drove the 4WD GT-R model of Skyline, and did not drift. I won't touch on these in detail, as they didn't really bother me that much.

However, the biggest element lacking in this is the music! Inital D fans know that Initial D is known for it's high energy dance-style J-pop music. Considering there are at least 10 Initial D soundtrack CD's out in Japan, I can't believe they didn't realize how popular the music is.

The music in the film is best described as "Chinese rap/R&B" I guess, which really hurt the feel of the movie in my opinion.

As synonymous the anime is with the music, I can't help but think what it would be without it. We'd be left with scenes of car racing with cheesy dialog, intertwined with brief romance scenes. Which now that I think of it, pretty much sums up this film.

If they were to make an Initial D anime series with music similar to this movie's soundtrack, I wonder if I would like it as much.

I just might feel the same way about it as I do this movie, in that it's a nice reminiscent film somewhat faithful to the original, but nothing to get really excited about.

If you're not a fan of Inital D or of import racing, there's not much for you here.