Product Description

Highly acclaimed by critics everywhere, this memorable story of passionate love is set amid the breathtaking scenery of a tropical paradise. With only a picture in hand, a beautiful young woman leaves behind all she knows for the far-off islands of Hawaii -- and an arranged marriage with a man she has never met. Though she initially regrets her decision, in time her new life on an island sugar plantation is filled with unexpected discovery and joy. Featuring Youki Kudoh (MYSTERY TRAIN) and Tamlyn Tomita (THE JOY LUCK CLUB), PICTURE BRIDE was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30145 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.com
The first feature by Hawaii-born filmmaker Kayo Hatta, 1995's Picture Bride takes us into unexplored story territory in its tale of a young Japanese woman (Youki Kudoh of Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train) who leaves her home in 1918 to become the mail-order wife of a sugar plantation laborer (Akira Takayama) in Honolulu. Her first shock is discovering that her husband is actually 20 years older than his photograph; after that, life just becomes hard as the intensity and dangers of plantation work eclipse all joy. Hatta achieves an admirable authenticity in her portrait of the island community and the ghosts it (literally) harbors; she also gives us a strong sense of racial and class divisions that crackle like live wires through Oahu's booming industries at the start of the century. Tamlyn Tomita is excellent as the woman who becomes Kudoh's closest ally and friend in this new world, and the late Toshirô Mifune has a memorable, small part as a traveling narrator of silent films. This is an original, fascinating, and touching work. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Accurate depiction of Japanese Picture Brides
This is a surprisingly accurate account of what picture brides went through as they ventured out of Japan to marry Japanese laborers living in Hawaii who worked in the cane fields and pineapple plantations. It was a hard, grueling life, and quite often the men were much older than the brides. Japanese laborers were treated cruelly by the Portuguese lunas, which spurred them to earn enough to get out of their contracts and start their own businesses. The harsh life motivated Japanese to make life better for their offspring; education was and still is emphasized. Features Tamlyn Tomita of THE JOY LUCK CLUB fame.

Valuable historical film about the Japanese-Hawaiian migration
This is a nice, quiet film honoring the migration of Japanese workers to the Hawaiian islands in the early part of the 20th Century. Other groups are seen as well, and the ethnic and class tensions between Japanese and Chinese immigrants, Filipinos, "haole" whites and Portuguese pianolo cowboys are explored with a light, honest touch. This artful film unfolds at a relaxed, almost dreamlike pace, mirroring the whispering calm of the moonlit cane fields where almost all the action takes place. This is a marvelous historical film, certainly of interest to anyone who is into Hawaiian culture or the history of pan-Pacific migration. Plus, it's gorgeously filmed, thoughtfully scripted and well acted. Recommended! (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

Harsh paradise
This first-time effort by Hawaiian-born Kayo Hatta worked for me cuz it only skimmed the surface of the potential drama of the story. It could have wound up soggy with emotion. But it failed at melodrama and what remained were sedate glimpses of a lifestyle shockingly different than the paradise promised by planatation owners and bachelor laborers to "picture brides" across the sea.

Fortune smiled on Hatta when she was talked into casting Japanese actress Youki Kudoh. Youki's in almost every scene and she easily carried the film with her nuanced, adorable performance. Her offbeat cuteness and delicacy enhanced the fish-out-of-water quality of the movie.

Her famous countryman, Toshiro Mifune, only appeared briefly but vividly in his second-to-last film. Speaking of brief, you might recognize Jason Scott Lee in an uncredited appearance.

This is a nice film to look at. Very colorful -- which is odd for an American film. While it took advantage of the magnificent Hawaiian scenery, it was mostly shot in the deep-green, almost claustrophobic cane fields. A clever atmospheric choice.

I particularly liked the effort to present the language situation authentically rather than turn everything into American English. Probably more than half of the dialog is in Japanese (with subtitles). Most of the English is heavily accented pidgin (remember Hawaii Five-0?) with a wee bit of Scots English and American English. If you're alert, you'll notice a Filipino dialect.

Sadly, Kayo Hatto -- who conceived, produced, co-wrote (with her sister), and directed -- did only a few film shorts since. Then, in 2005, she drowned accidently at age 47. So this is her feature film legacy. It's not deep dramatically, but it's wide in texture. Aloha, Kayo. And mahalo.