Having seen this film at first release in a cinema, and enjoyed it, I was somewhat disturbed by some negative posts on this page. When the opportunity arose to see it on TV, then, I viewed it again. It's a bit more mysterious than I was aware of at first viewing. This could be because the two versions are different cuts. Perhaps the sound was better on my home cinema than I recall from the hardtop. Certainly, the story was well set in the opening scenes, when it is obvious that Sandy, the female IT specialist, is coming off an unsatisfactory relationship. As one of her colleagues remarks: "I don't know how anybody could do it with him". We then are aware that Sandy is "on the rebound" from that relationship. The unpleasantness of that experience is not helped by her being told to escort a visitor, Hiro, on a sightseeing trip for which neither is well prepared. This is where things get complicated. Sandy is a female in the blokey environment of outback mining, where the usual job for a woman is driving a large earthmover. Hiro treats her, not as a professional, but as his driver. On the phone he describes her to his wife as "She has a big bum and she talks loudly". When it becomes obvious that Hiro is clueless about outback motoring in his demand to be taken to inaccessible places, he secretively peruses Sandy's guidebook. At the same time, Sandy hides her Japanese phrase book inside a magazine. Their communication level in zilch. Sandy does most of the right things when they get into trouble, not knowing that Hiro has read at least one trick to get them going. Or does she deliberately leave that trick out of her lexicon? In any event, the episode does improve their communication level. To some, that is a mystery. In the finale, we see one of the basic rules of drama. Conflict is followed by changes in the characters. Sandy is less uptight, and we become aware that Hiro was in love with his wife all along. That is the mystery in "the letter". Why did Hiro's wife give Sandy the letter? We don't know, but remember that we have here a woman director and a woman writer. In any case, the wife and Sandy reconcile, as I suppose, two intelligent women would do in the circumstances. Viewers might care to check the lengths of the original film and the video version. This is a very watchable movie.
Review of Japanese Story
