Interesting. I rather like the film, and have watched it, I think, three times. Granted, I may have come into the story with a little more awareness than some viewers of the relevant history but, honestly, I saw the story as an immersive sort of thing. We were seeing the “edges of ideas” the way we do in, say, a lot of SF.
But I did not see the ending as any kind of SF/F. It was more a sort of metaphor (for a range of things). Others may view it differently, of course.
Unless I somehow missed it (in which case, I apologize), the list of actors of note should also include Maggie Han, who plays Yoshiko “Eastern Jewel” Kawashima. She had a fair bit of exposure in films and TV in the late 80s/early 90s (including a few appearances on Seinfeld), though she has since retired from acting.
Interesting. I rather like the film, and have watched it, I think, three times. Granted, I may have come into the story with a little more awareness than some viewers of the relevant history but, honestly, I saw the story as an immersive sort of thing. We were seeing the “edges of ideas” the way we do in, say, a lot of SF.
But I did not see the ending as any kind of SF/F. It was more a sort of metaphor (for a range of things). Others may view it differently, of course.
Unless I somehow missed it (in which case, I apologize), the list of actors of note should also include Maggie Han, who plays Yoshiko “Eastern Jewel” Kawashima. She had a fair bit of exposure in films and TV in the late 80s/early 90s (including a few appearances on Seinfeld), though she has since retired from acting.