Fear and trembling Japanese story

In Stratosphere girl lost in translation, I wrote: "Westerners are bewildered by Japan and the Japanese. And that bewilderment is often reflected in films they make about this country."

Today, by coincidence, I watched two films, both also with a strong "Japanese" element. One is Fear and Trembling (Stupeur et tremblements) by Alain Corneau. The other is "Japanese Story" by Sue Brooks.


Fear and trembling is based on a "true" story of a Belgium girl working one year at a Japanese trading house in Tokyo. The more eager she tries to get things done or please her bosses, the more cultural missteps she commits. She is demoted and humiliated. Yet, she has her own way to salvage her dignity. I tend to agree with the Village Voice critic that Fear and Trembling is "a culture-clash comedy that takes the notion of Japanese otherness to ludicrous extremes."


If you like the kind of film which deals with "the Aussie girl is carefree and aggressive. The Japanese man is reserved and demure. Will they fall in love while travelling in the desert?", then "Japanese Story" is not for you. It is a more complex film than simple cross-cultural romance. The did fall in love, but then disaster struck. The last third of the film is devoted to the emotional and cultural aftermaths of his accidental death.