Sideways Movie – Japanese Version

サイドウェイズ Sideways

This weekend sees the release of the Japanese remake of the 2004 movie “Sideways“.

I haven’t been to see it yet, but the other day when I went to see Wolverine I picked up a poster and flyer and saw the trailer.

To be honest I couldn’t follow much of the trailer (my Japanese still needs some work) but it appears, as opposed to being about Miles and Jack going on a “stag weekend” in Napa valley, it’s about a reunion of 4 university friends, Michio, Daisuke, Mayuko and Mina (2 guys and 2 girls) who take a trip to California to try the wines.

Many conversations about love, friendship, career, marriage etc. ensue and at least one scene in a mud bath (which I don’t remember from the American version!), oh, and the scene where the “Jack” character drinks the wine from the spittoon, that was in the trailer.

When I first heard they were making a Japanese version of Sideways I really thought they’d relocate it to Japan, (as Hollywood tends to do, like moving High Fidelity from London to Chicago), maybe Katsunuma in Yamanashi prefecture, one of the main wine regions of Japan.
I would have thought that would have been much more interesting.

But who knows, maybe there’s some “fish out of water” comedy scenes and maybe the different set up (old university friends) adds a different dynamic to the plot.

Sidewas Napa Valley Map

Hopefully I’ll get to see it in the next couple of weeks, so I’ll post a review later.
Updated 23/11/09 : Tried to go and see the movie at my local cinema this weekend and it’s gone already! Was only there a couple of weeks. Guess it didn’t do as well as they’d hoped. I’ll have to wait for the dvd now then. ;(

If anyone else has seen it, let me know what you thought!

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