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Picture Bride (1994)

Picture Bride poster
Directed by
Kayo Hatta
Genre
drama film
Country
United States, Japan
Runtime
1h 35m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 25 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

A Japanese woman named Riyo travels to Hawaii to marry a man she has only seen in a photograph. She must navigate her new life working on a sugar plantation and building a relationship with a stranger.

emotionalplaintivegentlecontemplativeearnestintimatebittersweetslow-paced

What happens

Picture Bride is a 1995 American Japanese-language film directed by Kayo Hatta. It follows Riyo, who arrives in Hawaii as a "picture bride" at the turn of the century for a man she has never met before. The story is based on the historical practice, due to U.S. anti-miscegenation laws, of Japanese immigrant laborers in the United States using long-distance matchmakers in their homelands to find wives. Released by Miramax Films, the film stars Youki Kudoh, Akira Takayama, Tamlyn Tomita, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, with a special appearance by Toshiro Mifune in his penultimate film role. Picture Bride premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for narrative dramatic feature film. Considered a landmark Asian American work, the film was an Official Selection at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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