A desperately undervalued actress, Toni Collette supplies a virtuoso performance in Japanese Story, even if the rest of the film leaves something to be desired. Collette plays Sandy, a geologist who is utterly obsessed with her work and is somehow laboured with looking after a Japanese businessman on a work trip to the Australian outback. Due to their wildly differing personalities, the pair get off on the wrong foot almost immediately - he mistakes her for his driver and never misses a chance to belittle her - but a series of events conspires to make them reflect on their lives and the impact that they've had on each other.
Sounds fairly ominous, doesn't it? While director Sue Brooks never fully surrenders to the worst excesses of the opposites attract formula prevalent in so many romantic dramas, there's a distinct lack of meat on the bones of Japanese Story. The director's attempt to turn the film on its head about half-way through with a major plot twist doesn't quite have the impact that she might have hoped for - a substantial leap of faith is required - but Collette is never less than mesmerising. An emotionally articulate actress with few peers, Collette is so good and so true that you're almost prepared to overlook the film's underwhelming, misjudged premise. Still, it looks nice, with the Australian outback gorgeously photographed.
