MovieChat Forums > Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009) Discussion > Destruction of Suspension of Disbelief

Destruction of Suspension of Disbelief


I'm not sure why, as I cannot say any other movie ever had anything remotely like this effect on me, but as soon as this professional assassin, this introverted, seemingly emtionless, young and very beautiful japanese woman instantly fell for a hairy fat old white guy it utterly destroyed my suspension of disbelief. Because what he said about a bottle of wine? And look at the last one; even younger and hotter. Just absurd.

Over the next four or five minutes of film I totally lost interest and turned it off.

Anyone else?

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Sergi Lopez is hardly old or fat, but it's true he could have been her father. He's not my type, but he's not unattractive. Who knows why people fall for the people they do. There are many mis-matched couples around.

Too bad you turned it off; you missed a very special film.







"And all the pieces matter"

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I agree, not because of how he looks, mainly because of how Ryu was and how utterly lame the wine conversation was...
The movie was mediocre in my opinion, I liked the sitting, direction and even some of the acting, but didn't really enjoy anything else...

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On behalf of middle-aged white guys with spreading waistlines everywhere (the guys everywhere, not the spread of the waistlines), not only are we willing to suspend disbelief on this point, we're absolutely thrilled to do so.

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I completely agree. Especially with his inability to speak English, apart from learning his lines lamely as though he had to learn them phonetically, he came off as a third-rate minor porno film actor: sleazy and creepy. But the disbelief goes way beyond this. What was she even doing in "his" shop? (His shop! How could some lame-ass non-Japanese who isn't fluent in Japanese pull that one off, having been in Japan only 3 years?). Why would the assassin expose herself in such a public place and create a known connection between her and him simply by walking into his workplace? There would be security cameras, a chance for cross referencing with other jobs she had done. A professional would not likely do such a thing. It is foolish. And an inept amateur wouldn't be hired. As a professional she would avoid any contact or connection with him and whack him when he was alone and in a dark place. Or at the very least in a situation where she was utterly unknown, unknowable, and unseen.

The only connection they could have made that would make any sense is if they met by accident and she didn't know he was the same guy she had a contract for until she had already, what? Fallen in love with him? Her? Him? Hah! Impossible. But really I don't see those two characters depicted in the movie ever getting together under any circumstances. Other than what she was paid to do. So, end of movie. Right there at their meeting. It was a good choice on your part to leave then. You avoided, unlike myself, getting slapped in the face for the rest of the movie by a director/screenwriter who suffers from a destroyed left brain and thus ineptitude with anything like storyline or sense or any awareness of Japanese people and culture other than what she could see superficially on the surface as a brief tourist.

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Maybe you didn't understand the film.

She fell for him because he just wants to pretend she is Midori; in exchange he gives her what she wants, which is sex and food without any commitment or emotional intimacy, in fact without even conversation. That might not have been that easy for her to find otherwise.

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