TOKYO COWBOY – A Review by John Strange
Selig Film News attends film festivals around the country where we interview filmmakers who are presenting their films. We have run into (and interviewed multiple times) the powerhouse who is the polite and witty Marc Marriott, the director of Tokyo Cowboy at several of these festivals, most recently at the Asin Film Festival of Dallas.
The sad truth is that since I was the interview producer and not the interviewer, I did not have the opportunity to see this film until tonight. It was worth waiting for.
Hideki Sakai (Arata Iura) is a salaryman for a Japanese corporation. His job is to make new acquisitions more profitable. Not necessarily better, just more profitable.
His new target is a cattle ranch in Montana, part of a large corporate acquisition, that is not making enough profit. He has a great idea on how to turn the ranch around and convinces President Miwa (Ryô Iwamatsu) to let him fly to the US with Japanese Wagyu Rancher Wada (Jun Kunimura) to try and turn the business around.
His plan hits a brick wall from day one. Until Javier (Goya Robles), the ranch hand assigned to be the businessman’s babysitter, gets Hideki to open his eyes to what is really in front of him.
The film’s writers, Dave Boyle and Ayako Fujitani, took an imaginative idea and mixed in spurts of humor and real life to create an original recipe of a story that gives us a rich experience that is well worth watching.
Director: Marc Marriott
Cast: Arata Iura, Ayako Fujitani, Robin Weigert, Jun Kunimura, Goya Robles
MPAA Rating: PG (for language and a suggestive reference.)
Selig Rating: 5 Stars
Runtime: 118 Min.
Release Date: 08/30/2024
Language: English and Japanese (with English Subtitles)
Genre: Drama
Movie Site: TOKYO COWBOY Official Website
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
