First off, let me state two things: I love 'artsy' movies (ie: Amores Perros, Requiem for a Dream) and I love a well-told soap opera story, which is what this is. I'm, not that this matters, but to avert the caustic barbs of those who feel it matters, a certified, genuine, card-carrying genius.

I didn't like this movie. At all. In any way, shape, or form. It is not because I am stupid, nor because I don't appreciate the genre. It is because this film is horrible. It features only one redeeming quality, and that is the cinematography of Mr. Acord. The only reason it seems that any critic liked this film is because of a bizarre form of nepotism (a rarity for Hollywood, despite all its other failings) and the fact that it has a certain underbelly pop-girl indie-director vibe to it that makes it the trendy, beret-wearing thing du jour.

That said, the writing is boring, dry, and pointless. The direction is rigid, the acting more so. Only Murray has a fine performance, and that is more to years of expertise than to a good script. Young Scarlet is drab and morose, as are all the other characters. The soundtrack is unmemorable. And if you've spent about five minutes on the internet, you know that the supposed culture differences of Japan as portrayed on the screen are far, far deeper than shown. What little humour their is seems to be derived from the hateful bitterness of the characters and borderline racism, or at the least spiteful Amerocentric jingoism that seems to infect every fish-out-of-water film made in the past 20 years.

I suspect that once more people view this on VHS or DVD, it's score will drop dramatically as the stunning cinematography is lost on the small screen. Top 250 material, this isn't.