I’ve been waiting for this one since last summer.
Despite its distributor’s claims of theatrical release, Tokyo Cowboy never made it to the Northern California market, and evidence suggests only a few film festival appearances. Streaming options also took longer than usual, but patience has been rewarded.
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| Having thus far failed to impress anybody at the Lazy River Ranch, Hideki (Arata Iura) is surprised when Javier (Goya Robles) offers a genuine sign of friendship. |
Scripters Dave Boyle and Ayako Fujitani have concocted a marvelous premise that revolves around a hopeless culture clash: a quiet, slow-burn dramedy that is — by turns — aggravating, frustrating, and gently amusing. It also speaks volumes about how wildly contrasting people must forge a common bond ... and be willing to do so.
On top of which, a great moral: Sometimes true happiness can be found only when we’re brave enough to step outside our comfort zone.
Marc Marriott — in a sparkling feature directorial debut — maintains just the right tone, and elicits delicately shaded performances from everybody, even those in fleeting supporting roles.
Hideki Sakai (Arata Iura) has built a career as a Japanese corporate turnaround artist employed by Miki Holdings Ltd.: confident that he has the “secret sauce” to recharge any stagnant brand. He’s introduced as his company takes over the Matsuyama Handmade Chocolate company, where employees are shown carefully crafting candy delicacies made from the finest chocolate.
The elderly Mr. Matsuyama (Masashi Arifuku), lacking grandchildren to inherit his business, reluctantly relinquishes control as Hideki assures him that the company will be well chaperoned.
Uh-huh.
Within days, the cocoa is out-sourced to one of Miki’s holdings in Brazil, the product menu is slimmed down, artisan employees are replaced by a production line, the word “Handmade” is removed from the company name, and its previously attractive logo is replaced by an ugly blend of sharp lines and blobby colors ... all of which cuts front-end expenses by 15 percent.
(At what cost to the taste of the final product? That question has a delectably slow build and a great payoff.)
Miki’s corporate President Miwa (Ryô Iwamatsu) is pleased.
