Synopsis
An Eastern Western
When a young Japanese man with an affinity towards American western films is fired from his job, he sets out to become a real live cowboy.
1994 Directed by Kathy Garneau
When a young Japanese man with an affinity towards American western films is fired from his job, he sets out to become a real live cowboy.
Spent a good chunk of this movie voraciously googling the director (who isn't even listed on letterboxd, her name is Kathy Garneau) because she's from my city and literally could only find one picture of three people where I think she is one of them. She apparently manages the Staircase Theatre in Hamilton now and before that she got a chemical engineering degree at UBC and practiced in that field for a while before she became a filmmaker. She has a private twitter account and an instagram account with 0 posts. Who is she?????? This movie was bad though
This movie is so strange and probably a little racist and it’s a little frustrating that my research is totally fruitless. It’s weird to have a drama about secret lesbians and also there’s a Japanese cowboy and it’s weird to have a comedy about a Japanese man who feels more connected to Wedtern culture and also there’s a family drama about your homophobic hometown. I can’t even tell if this movie is trying to condemn people who accidentally toss racist microaggressions into their speech or if it was just racist on its own.
A young Japanese man who is in love with American cowboy movies gets fired from his menial job and decides to set out for Canada and look up the woman who was his former pen pal as a youth. He imagines that he can immerse himself into cowboy culture when he gets there. He's in for a few surprises, as is she.
This has the feel of a made-for-TV movie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just a thing. Pretty good light entertainment.