Japanese Cut of Johnny Mnemonic

powerss

I'm looking where I can buy the Japanese Cut of Johnny Mnemonic, which was considered MUCH better than the US release (which I love, cyberpunk FTMFW) - any help here?

Reiten

http://www.amazon.co.jp/JM-%E3%82%AD%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8C%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%E3%82%B9/dp/B00005GDUU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1194967425&sr=8-3

I think Amazon Japan will ship to the US.

Gabriel_Pitt

Well, if you consider an extra ten minutes or so of Beat Takeshi better, than yes, it is better. I remember it having more violence in it too, but it was a while ago and my memory if fuzzy. YesAsia (I think that's the name) might be able to help too.

Pheezer

It's not like Keanu Reeves can act in the Japanese version, or like the script wasn't poorly adapted. It's going to suck no matter what. Also I think extra violence is pretty much standard for most Japanese releases of films, Robocop's primary differences are even more gratuitous violence.

If you like Gibson and don't mind terrible movies, there's a film adaptation of New Rose Hotel you can find if you look around a bit. The best part is that Christopher Walken is in it. The worst part is that even he doesn't do a good job. There's an absurdly elongated sex sequence in there, too. The best thing they could have done would have been to use a different lead, and to cut the sex scene completely, using the money on better sets and a decent score (I remember it being really bland, which is a shame because a good score could really make a cyberpunk film).

Pheezer

Also I hope you know what New Rose Hotel is and how it's related to Johnny Mnemonic. If you don't, here's your reading list, in order:
Neuromancer
Johnny Mnemonic, from the Burning Chrome anthology
New Rose Hotel, from the Burning Chrome anthology
Burning Chrome, from the Burning Chrome anthology
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive

Of the three novels in that set, Neuromancer is the best with Mona Lisa Overdrive a really close second. Count Zero is probably the weakest work of the six. Of the short stories, New Rose Hotel is the best, with Johnny Mnemonic and Burning Chrome being roughly on par. Burning Chrome might actually be a bit better. The short story titled Johnny Mnemonic bears almost no similarity to the movie of the same name, but I assume you must know this.

The Burning Chrome collection really shines in some of the other stories included. Dogfight is one of the better short stories constructed in the previous century if you ask me, and I think it's The Hinterland that's got sort of a Lovecraftian tilt to it.

Sorry if that's a little off topic or I've insulted you by explaining a bunch of stuff you already know about.

blincoln

I haven't seen the Japanese cut, but I've read the screenplay for the film and didn't see anything that would redeem it (or alter it significantly, since you seem to like the film). I love the original short story, but IMO Gibson is not someone who can write well for the screen (big or small) - his two or three X-Files episodes were also less than stellar.
I actually thought the film version of New Rose Hotel was pretty good. It's not Abel Ferrara's best film by a long shot, but I think he did a credible job - especially considering that its budget must have been virtually nonexistent (according to IMDB, it premiered on one screen in the US, and grossed a little over twenty thousand dollars domestically).
Edit: if you absolutely must have the Japanese version and Amazon Japan won't ship to you, you might consider going to your nearest Chinatown/Japantown type of place and seeing if someone there will import it for you as a special order. For example, in Seattle you could ask at Kinokuniya/Uwajimaya, or in Vancouver (BC) there are a ton of little video stores in Chinatown you could ask at. Be aware that it will probably be expensive compared to a US release. When I went to Japan in the mid-90s, VHS releases were literally over seventy dollars each, and according to a friend of mine who lived there a few years ago not much has changed pricewise with the switch to DVDs.

deke55555

blincoln wrote: »

but IMO Gibson is not someone who can write well for the screen (big or small) - his two or three X-Files episodes were also less than stellar.QUOTE]

Gibson's writing contribution to Johnny was pretty minimal.


Also, 'Dogfight' was an awesome short story. See -> my user name.

blincoln

deke55555 wrote: »

Gibson's writing contribution to Johnny was pretty minimal.

IMDB gives him sole credit for the screenplay. The mass-market printing of the screenplay is out of print now, but every reference I can find to it also gives him sole credit as its author.

Pheezer

Yes, but I've also heard that the movie diverges from the screenplay originally written. Edits happen during shooting. And the really problematic parts of that movie had nothing to do with the writing.

EDIT:
Also,

Basically what happened was it was taken away and re-cut by the American distributor in the last month of its prerelease life, and it went from being a very funny, very alternative piece of work to being something that had been very unsuccessfully chopped and cut into something more mainstream.

—William Gibson, in interview with The Peak magazine, 19th October, 1998.

I highly doubt the Japanese version will have all of those additional cuts restored. 10 minutes with Takeshi likely won't save it.

blincoln

If you follow the link for that Wikipedia cite to the original interview, you will note that the byline is shockingly familiar =P.

Later in that same interview:

William Gibson wrote:

There's kind of a whole shelf of really low-budget sci-fi movies that - I look at them and think "Yeah-I know what they've been reading." And I kinda like that. It's kinda cool. Each one always has one really great moment. That was really kind of what I wanted Johnny Mnemonic [the film] to be. I wanted it to be like all of the really great moments in all of the really bad science fiction movies that I've watched over the years. A dangerous strategy.

Those two comments are what made me read the screenplay. One of the differences I do remember is that in the screenplay, the cyborg preacher guy *does* in fact get up, Terminator Endoskeleton-style before being gunned down again. In the absence of anything substantially different in the screenplay, this leads me to believe that it was moments like that that Gibson felt made the difference between "very funny, very alternative" and mediocre. I would argue that it wasn't the little things that worked against it, but the overarching vision which turned a gritty, believable short story into a cartoon-like science-fantasy movie.
I don't want to sound like a William Gibson-hater here - I love all of his books and short stories, and hearing him speak in person was amazing (if you've seen No Maps For These Territories, that's more or less exactly the experience) - I'm just trying to point out that he is probably not entirely guiltless regarding the way his movie and TV projects have turned out, and also explain why I think powerss is not going to get a radically different cut of the film if he manages to track down the Japanese version. I would actually like to see it too, but the cost of imported DVDs is usually too much to justify buying one on a lark.