Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Reviews

To be honest, it has been years since I have seen this movie and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I always thought it was just a fascinating picture. I mean, first of all, the people involved were just really interesting. Indeed, even though it was directed by Nagisa Ôshima, it wasn’t really a Japanese production, more an international project. Same for the lead characters, they were played by two rocks stars, David Bowie and Ryûichi Sakamoto. It seems that Bowie could have been an amazing actor if he chose this direction. Finally, years before becoming an amazing film director, Takeshi Kitano also appeared in this movie in a smaller role. So, all these ingredients were really unexpected but really interesting and, all together, they made for a mesmerizing and quite unique war feature. The most important idea is that you get a massive culture clash between Japanese and British culture but also between Japanese and British acting styles and, in spite of there differences, there is some kind of attraction between the two worlds. To conclude, I really have a weak spot for this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.