With that being said let's do this:
Emperor (2012)
Plot Summary
A story of love and understanding set amidst the tensions and uncertainties of the days immediately following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. On the staff of General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones), the de facto ruler of Japan as Supreme Commander of the occupying forces, a leading Japanese expert, General Bonner Fellers (Mathew Fox) is charged with reaching a decision of historical importance: should Emperor Hirohito be tried and hanged as a war criminal? Interwoven is the story of Fellers' love affair with Aya, a Japanese exchange student he had met years previously in the U.S. Memories of Aya and his quest to find her in the ravaged post-war landscape help Fellers to discover both his wisdom and his humanity and enable him to come to the momentous decision that changed the course of history and the future of two nations.
First off, that poster cover is a bit of a misdirection as Tommy Lee Jones doesn't play a very big role in the movie. I have the feeling he was reeled into the production to be the big name that gets people to watch a modestly budgeted film. I will say that it worked for me as that was the hook to get me to watch this film. The subject matter doesn't hurt either.
This was a very well done movie that was compelling to watch and earnest in its telling of events. I liked that the movie was told almost completely from the POV of Fox's portrayal of Bonner Fellers who was given the impossible task of finding out whether Emperor Hirohito was responsible for the prosecution of the war against America. This is set against the backdrop of a subplot that revolves around Fellers' relationship with a Japanese woman named Aya. At first I was a little annoyed at this as I wanted to see a forensic telling of the investigation of Hirohito but then I saw what the subplot brought up which was the differences and nuances of Japanese culture and how they viewed the leadership of the Emperor and of the war.
A significant part of the flashbacks to Fellers' relationship with Aya had to do with him writing a report on the Japanese soldiers and their psyche/morale which led to him spending time with Aya at her uncle's place. Said uncle was a general who had once served in the Japanese Embassy in the US. Fellers and the uncle had quite interesting conversations including one that really struck on the key difference in the cultures. It was a conversation on the two most important words that an outsider should know about Japan. The first word conveys things as they appear to be. In the context of the conversation that would be how Japan is the most modern and well educated nation in the Asian world. The other word conveys things as they really are and in the case of Japan that would be the strong warrior culture and devotion to honor and loyalty.
That conversation had a direct correlation to the investigation of Hirohito because from Western eyes it seemed like he was pretty guilty of starting the war and thus being a war criminal but things aren't what they appear to be as it became clear that Hirohito's role was ceremonial at best and that he was a man caught up in the militaristic fervor of the nation. It was Hirohito who took it upon himself at the hour of Japan's gravest crisis to accept surrender despite the military leaders wanting to continue the fight.
I would be remiss in not mentioning Masayoshi Haneda who played Fellers' Japanese assistant/attache Takahashi. I thought Haneda did a very good job and I especially liked the scene when Fellers has to go to the Imperial Palace where American personnel were not allowed to go in order to interview Hirohito's vice minister. There is a confrontation with the head guard and Fellers basically says he has orders from MacArthur to see the minister and Takahashi takes it upon himself to soften the tone in translation by saying that Fellers wishes the Emperor good health and how they'd like a meeting with the minister. It's a very good scene that highlights the differences in how the two cultures handle a situation like that. The Western idea of using threat of force to get one's way is blunted by appealing to honor and respect for patriarchal society.
Tommy Lee Jones in his scenes was quite effective as MacArthur, while the two men share little in common physically Jones was able to work around it by getting the voice, mannerisms and feel of MacArthur just right. Unfortunately for the film the true lead Mathew Fox was a bit wooden to me. There were a couple scenes where he needed to cry/be emotional and it just didn't work. His acting was very one note other than situations where he had to raise his voice a bit. There was a stiffness to his body language that gave a vibe of unease or uncertainty about his acting that bled through the screen. That being said, it wasn't to the point that he sunk the movie and like I said I liked that it was told mostly through his POV. The story was told in a semi-authorized document way. It felt very much like the narration of an official report and I think that tone was pretty well suited to a movie that took a semi-documentary tact to the material.
All in all I'd say this is a solid ***
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