Letters From Iwo Jima

Rob Foss · 11-15-2006, 07:55 AM

'Letters from Iwo Jima' for best picture?

A poster at The Envelope's message boards broke the news here early this afternoon that "Letters from Iwo Jima" will ambush the Oscar derby.

Warner Bros. will give it a qualifying run in a few Los Angeles and New York theaters during the last week of 2006, then open it wide in February after Oscar noms are announced.

The decision is a surprise because it recently seemed as if the studio had given up hope that a Japanese-language film could do well at the Oscars and just pushed it off to next February so they'd be something new to talk about as "Flags of Our Fathers" made its run for best picture. When I asked Warner Bros. execs if "Iwo Jima" would get a qualifying run for this derby, they said, "No!"

More@ GoldDerby.

BrettB · 11-15-2006, 10:03 AM

Looks like they've determined Flags has no shot.

Rob Foss · 11-25-2006, 05:49 PM

Couple more developments on the Eastwood front ... Letters from Iwo Jima has had a sensational debut in Tokyo and along with Flags it's been near the top of the box-office. According to a Japanese poster over at imdb the Japanese audience and the critics have been emotionally overwhelmed by the movie. There's also this AICN mini-review which gives away a lot of the story including the ending, so be warned. Here's an excerpt:

Quote:

Excellently scripted by Iris Yamashita, the flashbacks reach deep within your heart to humanize and attach the audience to the main characters. As the invasion begins, we get to see the Japanese side patiently waiting for the orders to fire. Similar to Flags, where the Japanese side was basically a faceless army, the American side in Letters is also a virtually faceless army. And it is here where Clint begins to connect his two masterpieces in somewhat of a Rashomon-style war piece ...

...But Clint does decide to show us the horrifying scene where Japanese soldiers, one by one, voluntarily blow themselves up using hand grenades. We also see what happens to the American soldiers who are unfortunate enough to be pulled down and kidnapped through the hundreds of underground passages. All are extremely intense scenes that are still embedded in my memory.

http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/30789

And at Tom O'Neil's Gold Derby Oscar site a few days back, an industry insider mentioned that a friend of his - an Eastwood fan who was disappointed with Flags - saw Letters earlier in the week and called it Eastwood's best film or at worst tied with Unforgiven.

WB has just launched its US website for the forthcoming Letters. Good selection of photos, some downloads and best of all an English subbed version (finally!) of the Japanese trailer. Nice opportunity to sample Clint's score too.

http://iwojimathemovie.warnerbros.co...framework.html

There was also an excellent article on Eastwood & the film published in the LA Times the other day. Here's a snippet;

Quote:

In "Letters," Eastwood's Japanese warriors are a mix of the brave, the brutal and the scared, men who love their mothers and miss their children. They argue about tactics and whether their best shot at survival is to fight or surrender. But the movie is also built around an extraordinary man: Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), a brilliant, American-educated soldier, worldly and wise enough to know that he and his men are being fed to the superior firepower of the U.S. Marines with no hope of victory or survival.

To Americans, the brutality of the island-by-island campaign and the incineration of Japan's mainland cities were tragic but unavoidable consequences of a war forced upon them by Japanese aggression. The war's coda was a free and democratic Japan.

To the Japanese, the devastation that followed their military adventurism was so catastrophic that few want to sift through the history for an explanation. The period is simply commemorated as a time of great civilian suffering, reduced to a pacifist mantra that all war is bad.

There has never been a Japanese movie about Kuribayashi. And the hell of Iwo Jima in winter 1945 has never wooed Japanese filmmakers. "None of my Japanese actors knew anything about Iwo Jima," Eastwood says. "You lose 21,000 people! To just ignore them. What would happen if we did that?"

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...ck=1&cset=true

It's going to be very interesting to see Letters and even more interesting to see how it affects perceptions of Flags. My hunch is that despite the different characters and different stories both films will come to be regarded as a unified whole exploring similar themes from different perspectives.

Mike.P · 12-18-2006, 01:15 PM

Trailer here:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/lettersfromiwojima/hd/

Never got around to seeing Flags Of Our Fathers, but based on the trailers for both, this one gripped me immediately. Hits the limited release circuit this weekend. Also appears to be the film expected to garner more of the awards attention.

One critic said this film is the, for lack of a better word, "more arthouse" companion to the "more entertaining" Flags. I have to say, most of all, the muted color palette really makes both films stand out.

Can't wait for the wide release.

Brian-A · 12-18-2006, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike.P

One critic said this film is the, for lack of a better word, "more arthouse" companion to the "more entertaining" Flags. I have to say, most of all, the muted color palette really makes both films stand out.

I speculate that this may just be because the dialogue is in another language and the film itself focuses on a different culture. That in itself makes it seem more exotic, arthouse, if you will.

In any case, I thought Flags was excellent and I look forward to seeing the other point of view. What first attracted me to the project was the very fact that there would be two movies, two points of view about the same event.

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Mike.P · 12-18-2006, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian-A

I speculate that this may just be because the dialogue is in another language and the film itself focuses on a different culture. That in itself makes it seem more exotic, arthouse, if you will.

In any case, I thought Flags was excellent and I look forward to seeing the other point of view. What first attracted me to the project was the very fact that there would be two movies, two points of view about the same event.

Yeah, I always thought the idea of having 2 companion movies was brilliant to begin with. Pretty disappointed with myself for never having seen Flags in theaters, too.

You are also probably right on the foreign effect, as well. Not to mention, in American cinema at least, we rarely get to see the opposing sides point of view on a conflict. Another reason this interests me more, I suppose.

CaseyL · 12-21-2006, 10:43 AM

Loved "Flags", but I've really been looking forward to this. This was easily the more anticipated of the two for myself. Can't wait to see this one.

JonZ · 12-22-2006, 09:34 AM

And James Bs review....

http://www.reelviews.net/movies/l/letters_iwo.html

Although it has the same rating as Flags......, he thinks this is the better film.

Tim Glover · 12-22-2006, 12:31 PM

Thought Flags was a great film but I look forward to this one too.