MovieChat Forums > Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009) Discussion > Intriguing idea ruined by fatal miscasti...

Intriguing idea ruined by fatal miscasting of Sergio Lopez

posted 10 years ago by mattstevens
3 replies | jump to latest

This film could have been something far beyond the usual pretentious nonsense we see with so many euro funded films. The stunning Rinko Kikuchi is wonderful, as always. But she instantly falls for Sergio Lopez who seems to be speaking English phonetically? He is so badly miscast. No charisma, a performance hampered by his lack of English and having absolutely no chemistry with Rinko, I cannot explain how the director cast him. They must have been friends.

The film was shot with the RED ONE and looks surprisingly decent throughout. It feels a bit too clean here and there, but for the most part the movie felt more like a motion picture and not a video.

As for the sex scenes: I do not objext to them, but in my mind they would have worked at a higher level had the male led been properly cast. Imagine Javier Bardem. Now that would be something. There would have been heat.

[–] SemaTerry 10 years ago

I agree. I can't stand the way he acts, in fact he's probably not acting. He probably acts like this in real life. I think he was in pans labrynth and he was the same character.

[–] pandoraborrego 10 years ago

Yeah - the actor pretty much ruined my belief in the film's premise - like why the heck would any beautiful young women even want this guy? Or, if my (an older female viewer) being repulsed was the idea, I guess it worked!

[–] sc_taylor 9 years ago

Absolutely right. Lopez is shockingly bad, with his wooden delivery and total lack of expression. But the film is poorly directed and dramatically inert in any case and, good as she is, Kikuchi is unable to save it.