Picture Bride (film)
- Youki Kudoh: Riyo
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa: Kanzaki
- Tamlyn Tomita: Kana
- Akira Takayama: Matsuji
- Yōko Sugi: Aunt Sode
- Christianne Mays: Pieper
- Toshirō Mifune: Benshi
The secret of the Bride ( Original Title: Picture Bride ) is an American- Japanese movie drama from 1994 was directed by Kayo Hatta, who also co-wrote the screenplay..
Action
The action takes place in 1918 in Hawaii. A native of Yokohama 16 -year-old Riyo is sent from their relatives in the United States, where she is to marry the seen in a photograph farm workers Matsuji. Her aunt and uncle say that all women who had done it before, be happy.
Riyo finds that her famous photo of her fiance is 15 years old, but she marries him anyway. The bride refused to sleep with Matsuji. Riyo wants to save money to return to Japan. Matsuji tells her she would forget the time Japan. Riyo befriends with Kana, the Matsuji gives advice on how he should treat his wife.
Kana and her daughter die in an accident. Riyo and Matsuji go to open with each other, they tell each other of their families. One day - long after the wedding - Riyo sleeping with her husband. The next day, she works on the plantation and sings.
Reviews
James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews, the film show realistically the situation in Hawaii to the beginning of the 20th century. He acted neither contrived nor melodramatic, but more like a documentary. The development of the characters was inconsistent - although one can understand their motives, but do not identify with them.
Awards
Kayo Hatta was nominated in 1994 for the Golden Palm. It was in 1995 nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and received the Audience Award at the festival.
The film was nominated in 1996 for the Independent Spirit Award. In 1996 he received a special award from the Political Film Society Awards and was nominated for the Political Film Society Award for Human Rights and the Political Film Society Award for Peace.
Background
In the years from 1907 to 1924 came from Japan, Korea and other Asian countries about 20,000 women to Hawaii to marry men they knew only from the photos. The director dedicated five years researching the events. The planned as a thesis student at the University of California, Los Angeles short film became a larger project.
The film was shot in Waialua (Hawaii). Its world premiere took place in May 1994 at the International Film Festival in Cannes, in January 1995, he was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. On 5 May 1995, he was released in the United States, in which he grossed about 1.24 million U.S. dollars.