Filmed entirely on location in Japan during the 2002 World Cup by director Pablo Aldrete, Nippon e Yokoso is a 75-minute feature about a Mexican soccer fan named Daniel (Nacho Sanchez) who confronts a young Japanese woman named Naoko (Honaga Yoko) after she steals his wallet on the subway. Daniel surprises Naoko by inviting her to go out for a meal, but she has other things on her mind: a yakuza boss assigned her to steal the wallet of an Asian man and she completely bungled it by targeting a Mexican guy
who is now asking her for a date. Is he out of his mind? Realizing that the yakuza is closing in on her, she agrees to go with Daniel to buy herself some time. It's a simple plot with minimal dialogue, but set against the backdrop of the World Cupan exciting time to be in Japanthe film works well as a love story and travelogue/road movie, that is, if you like slow-paced films. The two talented young actors have excellent chemistry and Honaga, a butoh dancer, is a real discovery. She could be a real star someday. Perhaps Mexican directors just have a knack for guiding young Japanese actresses.
2 Reviews
One hour and £10 that I will never get back...*sob*
zenfroglet17 November 2006
This is the blurb from the film festival I went to:
This is the journey of two people and their attempt to escape from reality. They meet under different circumstances: Naoko tells the story of her last voyage through life; Daniel is in Japan to see Mexico play in the football world cup. Naoko follows Daniel through the streets of Tokyo and into the tube where she steals Daniel's wallet. Daniel chases after her, but is unable to spot her in the crowds. Upon checking the wallet she realises that she has made a mistake, pick pocketing the wrong man. Soon Naoko's boss would be looking for her all over Tokyo . There is a chase in the tube, but she manages to escape, joining Daniel on his trip around Japan while she figures something out. Eventually Mexico loses the match against the USA . Naoko, realising that this might be the end of the journey, decides to take Daniel to a forest where they can find the magic that will take their pain away, and
Disappointing, as the premise sounded interesting. I don't know how many Mexican/Japanese films there are. This was filmed on a camcorder, the actors could not act, the subtitles were misspelled and the plot, nonsensical.
This looks like someone went on a holiday to Japan with their drama student Japanese girlfriend and tried to make a film out of it, by mixing it with some football footage.
Honstly nothing to redeem this film, not recommended.
This is the journey of two people and their attempt to escape from reality. They meet under different circumstances: Naoko tells the story of her last voyage through life; Daniel is in Japan to see Mexico play in the football world cup. Naoko follows Daniel through the streets of Tokyo and into the tube where she steals Daniel's wallet. Daniel chases after her, but is unable to spot her in the crowds. Upon checking the wallet she realises that she has made a mistake, pick pocketing the wrong man. Soon Naoko's boss would be looking for her all over Tokyo . There is a chase in the tube, but she manages to escape, joining Daniel on his trip around Japan while she figures something out. Eventually Mexico loses the match against the USA . Naoko, realising that this might be the end of the journey, decides to take Daniel to a forest where they can find the magic that will take their pain away, and
Disappointing, as the premise sounded interesting. I don't know how many Mexican/Japanese films there are. This was filmed on a camcorder, the actors could not act, the subtitles were misspelled and the plot, nonsensical.
This looks like someone went on a holiday to Japan with their drama student Japanese girlfriend and tried to make a film out of it, by mixing it with some football footage.
Honstly nothing to redeem this film, not recommended.
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