A disgrace to LIT
Moderator: Bob
A disgrace to LIT
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]
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]
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.
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.
- Suntory
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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?!?!?!
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?!?!?!
- Just Like Honey...
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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.
I'd rather be a gear in a big, deterministic, physical machine than just some random swerving.
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- Suntory
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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:
Roger also said:
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:
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.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).
Roger also said:
Which I find quite amusing!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").
- Suntory
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F&F3 - Tokyo Drift
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.
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.