Japanese Story

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Japanese Story

Directed by	Sue Brooks
Produced by	Sue Maslin
Written by	Alison Tilson
Starring	Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima
Editing by	Jill Bilcock
Distributed by	Samuel Goldwyn Films
Release date(s)	25 September 2003 (Australia)
Running time	110 min
Language	English, Japanese
Budget	~ US$5,740,000
IMDb profile

Japanese Story is a 2003 Australian film directed by Sue Brooks.

[edit] Plot

Sandy Edwards (played by Toni Collette) is a director in a company designing geological software in Perth, Western Australia. Her business partner manipulates her into acting as a guide for a Japanese businessman visiting mines in the Pilbara desert, in the hope that he will purchase her product. When Tachibana Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) arrives, expecting her to carry his luggage and more intent on discovering himself in the wilderness than on buying computer software, Sandy is at first angered by his private but demanding nature. Hiromitsu, feeling insecure, speaks more frequently on his phone to friends in Japan than he does to the woman driving next to him, and insists that she drive deeper into the desert. The terrain becomes too much for the pair's vehicle which becomes bogged down. After a series of increasingly desperate attempts to release the vehicle, they are forced to spend the night stranded together. The next day Hiromitsu, conscious that his actions had placed them in danger, wakes early and builds a track over which they can drive out of the sand before Sandy wakes. Now that they are free, the ice breaks and a friendship starts between them that, in isolated surroundings uninterrupted by their lives, grows quickly and honestly. They then start a sexual relationship. Sandy then learns that Hiromitsu has a wife and children in Japan.

Sandy and Hiromitsu go to a swimming hole, where Hiromitsu dives into shallow water before Sandy can warn him of the danger. When he resurfaces he is dead. In shock at Hiromitsu's sudden death, Sandy struggles with the necessities of the situation, dragging his body into their vehicle then carefully washing it before driving for hours to reach the nearest town. Back in Perth, Sandy cannot comprehend the violent end to her journey. Reality intrudes in the form of Hiromitsu's grieving widow, leaving Sandy attempting to understand how Hiromitsu's life had ended before she had understood his place in hers.