SF IndieFest: Initial D
We snickered to ourselves when we learned that the Initial D movie was selected to be screened at the SF Indie Fest this year. The anime/manga/arcade game phenomenon from Japan featuring import car racing down Japanese mountain roads using drifting techniques (steering though corners while maintaining the highest speed possible) was the be scourge of our existence a couple of summers ago.
With other pre-pubescent import car enthusiasts, we obsessed over the finer points of corner entry theory while using a Mazda RX-7 on 3rd gear versus the efficient exit velocity we will need to successfully clear the Akina mountain stage with a competitive time. How could a movie based on an anime/manga/arcade game whose target audience is pheather-wearing greasy haired borderline sociopathic high school sophomores who habitually cut school be made into a successful film that wins awards (It made its US premiere at the prestigious AFI Festival and won two awards at the 42nd annual Golden Horse Awards). Clearly something was up, and we weren't dealing with the garden variety film about testosterone and engines.
SFist Paolo, contributing
Initially, we wanted to see Initial D just for the sh*ts and giggles, given our advance knowledge to what this "Initial D" is. Surprisingly, considering its subject matter, it is a great film. And what really impresses us is that the film faithfully covers 90 percent of its original source material, as we watched scenes interpreted to the film that we have seen in the anime or read in the manga. Also, this film reunites Andrew Lau, Alan Mak, and Felix Chong (the former two directing and the latter writing the 2002 hit Internal Affairs). In an age of dishonest video game to film adaptations (Uwe Boll we're looking at you) it is refreshing to see the production reflect the original source work. Although, truthfully, the original source work isn't War and Peace, by any stretch of the imagination.
The basic story of the film deals with Takumi (Taiwanese pop sensation Jay Chou in his acting debut), Japanese high school student who helps his father Bunta, (Anthony Wong, Internal Affairs) former street racing legend deliver tofu in his father's old Toyota Trueno AE86 on the windy roads of Mt. Akina. Takumi inadvertly develops an insane brillance for of driving down Akina, which comes in handy when other racing teams come to Akina to challenge the "Akina Racing God". The film truncates the first few episodes of the anime, with Takumi coming into prominence in the local racing scene beating former champions, also taking bits from other seasons of the anime. Add in Dawson's Creek caliber teen melodrama with Takumi finding love with the local girl next door (who turns out to harbor a scandalous secret) and you have what the Fast and the Furious could not accomplish, a relatively honest portrayal of a subculture. There are no cocaine smuggling rings that only can be penetrated with a hard as nails FBI agent going undercover in an illicit street racing gang. Just teenagers wanting to race, find friendship, and true love.
Our two real complaints come from the film's constant usage of freeze-frames, "24"- style editing, and no Eurobeat soundtrack! Eurobeat, our horrible horrible guilty pleasure, would be the bastard child of Japanese pop music and Italia Disco. It has the inimitable sickly sweet vocals singing about never stopping the music and dancing all night long, to a snyth-beat. What we get instead are "certificate of participation" caliber Hong Kong style rap.
Quick, take in this movie before Brett Ratner wants to remake it and add two hundred percent more scantly clad Japanese race queens and call it art! Quick take in this movie before Justin Linn (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis) makes the 3rd Fast and the Furious, that just so happens to deal with Tokyo AND drifting!
Initial D did it first, and probably will do it best! Initial D screens today at the Roxie Cinema at 7:00pm.