A disgrace to LIT

Message

cmusic · #1 Post by **cmusic** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:39 pm

I just saw the trailer for "The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift". There are many scenes in the trailer that mimic scenes in LIT, most commonly the Tokyo streets in Shibuya, exterior of the Park Hyatt Hotel, and the subway. The trailer even flashes the tag line "This summer speed needs no translation."

The trailer can be seen here: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thefast ... drift.html

What a disgrace and a rip-off of my favorite movie!

[/url]

wiggle · #2 Post by **wiggle** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:06 pm

Don't you think you're being a little over-sensitive? The fact that it's set in Tokyo is its only similarity. I don't think it's try to mimic LiT at all.

Suntory · #3 Post by **Suntory** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:14 pm

I think I'll go see this movie regardless!
It has two of my favorite things in it: Tokyo and fast carz!

cmusic · #4 Post by **cmusic** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:37 pm

Well as I was watching the trailer for the first time I kept thinking to myself "that looks like the same places in LIT". It did not really bother me until the tag line "speed needs no translation" was shown that it was making a direct reference to LIT IMHO. If the movie was good enough on its own then it would not need to reference a much better movie. It still seemed like an insult to me. (I am taking in consideration that F&F is targeted at a completely different crowd.)

Will I watch F&F, Tokyo Drift? Maybe one day I will when I am in the mood for a mindless "popcorn movie". I'm not in that kind of mood too often.

jm · #5 Post by jm » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:53 pm

See, I told you we'd talked about everything we could.

Suntory · #6 Post by **Suntory** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:49 am

Too funny JM!!

My take on the whole translation thing is that in actual use, the terms needing no translation and lost in translation are very commonly used
in everyday language to refer to any number of things having
to do with cross cultural references and boundaries.
If you do a google seach on the terms, yes a lot come
up about the film but there are also other sites that come up as
having to do with other things. What's odd is that this site doesn't
come up in the first 20 results but the lost in racism site does.

I think it's certainly possible that the makers of this film saw LIT
and liked it and took what they thought were the cool places
in there and put it in the movie because it was cool.
But seriously how many people who go see that movie would
ever consider watching LIT?

Ok now get this line of reasoning.
The FF films have focused on rice burner type
fast cars with are made in JAPAN!!!! The main car in the first film
was a Toyota Supra (which I once owned!!!)

So without even having
seen LIT, the makers of the film in their desire to create a new
storyline and as an homage to the country which makes the cars,
go to Japan and Tokyo which to them and the car enthusiasts
is the ultimate and cool destination and place for the film!!!
And of course they know where all the cool places in Tokyo
are! If they are tied into the what's happening cool stuff in
Tokyo they didn't need to see LIT to know about all those places.
Dave Attell certainly seemed to know where to go and some of the same
places without ever referencing LIT!!!! Its like do you need to see
a movie about NYC to know what the cool places are there?!

Hmmm. JM was any of this ever discussed before?!?!?!

jm · #7 Post by jm » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:09 am

Well, two movies set in Tokyo...I can only say I'm glad for Tokyo.

Just Like Honey... · #8 Post by **Just Like Honey...** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:56 am

I was thinking of seeing it just for the scenery.. F&F movies never did it for me, but some of the imagery in the preview was pretty mindblowing. TBH, I was at the movies a few nights ago and saw this preview there. I noticed the exact same thing, but I'm not sure if it was intentional or not... strange though.

K · #9 Post by K » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:31 am

This movie will probably suck, just like the others did. Oh well, more spare parts for me when people start "drifting" into lamp posts.

Suntory · #10 Post by **Suntory** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:14 pm

K wrote:Oh well, more spare parts for me when people start "drifting" into lamp posts.

You are hilarious!

The Shoegazer · #11 Post by **The Shoegazer** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:10 pm

Well, I didn't see anything disgraceful to LiT in the trailer. Those kinds of movies do not appeal to me anyway. Not every movie made in Tokyo and using 'Translation' in its plug are there to mimic LiT

hull_street · #12 Post by **hull_street** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:04 pm

I think the only people that would get this are us,
and the person who made the trailer. Who is probably one of us.
So, who's gonna 'fess up ?

Sofia needs to direct the next Fast and the Furious.
I'd pay good money to see that film.

Suntory · #13 Post by **Suntory** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:20 pm

I saw the trailer in the theater this past weekend and I have to say it
looks like the usual cliche'd dumb story that's been done a million
times before in some form or another. However as I said before I do like
the fast flashy cars and Tokyo so I'll probably see it.

Suntory · #14 Post by **Suntory** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:42 pm

The movie came out today but I can't see it until next week.
In the meantime reading some reviews, Roger Ebert who may have liked it more than other critics, said a couple interesting things about it that I quote here:

What's interesting is the way the director, Justin Lin, surrounds his gaijin with details of Japanese life, instead of simply using Tokyo as an exotic location. We meet the sumo wrestler, who will be an eye-opener for teenagers self-conscious about their weight. We see pachinko parlors, we see those little "motel rooms" the size of a large dog carrier, and we learn a little about the Yakuza (the Japanese Mafia) because D. K.'s uncle is the Yakuza boss Kamata (Sonny Chiba).

It should be noted that Sony Chiba was a star of older 70s Japanese kung fu movies and was in Kill Bill I which was an homage to some degree to those films.

Roger also said:

The movie is not exactly "Shogun" when it comes to the subject of an American in Japan (nor, on the other hand, is it "Lost in Translation").

Which I find quite amusing!

Suntory · #15 Post by **Suntory** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:56 pm

Ok I saw it last week.
It's not a bad movie if you can get past the cliche'd dialogue, story, plot etc. What's left after that?! Insane crazy screaming car action, car chases, races, explosions. And extremely good looking members of the opposite sex. Oh and about 10 minutes of interesting footage of Tokyo and Japanese life. When it comes out on dvd I'll see if I can extract just the Tokyo stuff and put it on here.

The Tokyo scenes go into some more detail than LIT and of course they have a different feel and mood.
There is still the stranger in a strange land idea, there is a scene of the guy arriving from the airport on the subway, riding through Tokyo at night, going to a Japanese school, a pachinko parlor, Shibuya crossing, and one car chase that goes right through Shibuya Crossing and the crowds of people part ways to let the cars through and some other stuff like aeriel views of Tokyo at night.

WeAreAwake.org

A disgrace to LIT

A disgrace to LIT

F&F3 - Tokyo Drift