Credited cast: | |||
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Mao Inoue | ... | Saori Oguri |
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Jonathan Sherr | ... | Tony Lazlo |
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Ryôko Kuninaka | ... | Mika |
Naho Toda | ... | Editor of Orange Pop | |
Jun Kunimura | ... | Saori's father | |
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Shinobu Ôtake | ... | Saori's mother |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
Takumi Bando | ... | Kenji | |
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Dante Carver | ... | Franco |
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Yûko Gomyô | ||
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Maria Theresa Gow | ||
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Patrick Harlan | ... | Paul |
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Masato Irie | ... | Editor |
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Daijiro Kawaoka | ... | Shinsuke |
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Tony László | ... | Antoine Dubakony - Priest |
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Saori Oguri | ... | Wedding guest |
Set in the Tokyo area, an aspiring Japanese manga writer has a relationship with an American. They live together and they are happy but there is a problem with the relationship. The heroine must do something to heal the rift.
This film provides a window into cross-cultural romantic difficulties, but the more pointed possibilities are relegated to individual lines of dialogue that can easily get lost in a a "rom- com" haze. As a movie, "My Darling is a Foreigner" is of the type that could well play on the Japanese version of the "Hallmark" channel - a "made for TV" sort of film, best viewed as a cultural artifact rather than a major motion picture with international appeal. The interviews with other cross-cultural couples a la "When Harry Met Sally" are more revealing of the kind of issues that can come up in such relationships; the dramatization of these conflicts in the actual Saori-Tony relationships in the movie are pallid in comparison. The interspersed drawings from Saori's Manga have a freshness that scenes of the coupe frolicking on the beach or making their bed together are the kind of filmmaking clichés that a Woody Allen would have masterfully satirized in a film like "Annie Hall," or "Love and Death."
I sought out as many reviews as I could find to understand the cultural relevance of the plot. It does indeed seem like a burning social issue for Japanese society, and as such, its appeal to a domestic Japanese audience is understandable. I most appreciated the words of a cross- cultural blogger, who suggested that any who choose to criticize "My Darling" view it alongside Sophia Coppola's Oscar-winning "Lost In Translation." As pieces that might have made arguments for cross-cultural sensitivity, they are equally lacking.