This morning in San Francisco, I interviewed Dave Boyle, the director of a new-ish movie called White on Rice. With him was actor Hiroshi Watanabe; he plays the part of Jimmy, a super-immature 40-year old who moves in with his sister's family in Utah after getting a divorce in Japan. We mostly talked about how a Mormon missionary ended up making movies about Japanese culture. The interview will air on NPR sometime soon; in the meantime, you should go check out White on Rice at the movie theater. If you're in SF, it's playing at the Metreon now.
I thought the same when I saw Boyle's first film, Big Dreams Little Tokyo, but Boyle always does an excellent job of depicting aspects of Japanese culture without being offensive or compromising his sense of humor.
Btw, this is a pic I took of Boyle, Watanabe, and Ruby.
White on Rice main page
My review of Big Dreams Little Tokyo
Sweet, it's not playing in Dallas but I'll add it on netflix. I saw Big Dreams, Little Tokyo after your recommendation and thought it was pretty funny, and definitely reflective of Japanese culture. I didn't know the director was Mormon, that puts an interesting spin on things. Hopefully I'll catch your interview on NPR. Hiroshi looks awkward holding Ruby lol.
Posted by: alexanderpink | September 19, 2009 at 07:54 AM