Film Review: Man From Reno

Ayako Fujitani

Film review by William Mortensen Vaughan  Full disclosure:  I appeared as a prison guard, and my parents-in-law appeared as a prison inmate and prison visitor in this movie.  Although my opinion of this movie may, therefore, be biased, Man From Reno won prizes this year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Best Asian American Feature at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas.  Not bad for a film with a fifty-five thousand dollar budget!  Backers pledged fifty-four thousand, nine hundred fifty dollars via KickStarter.  It was also an official selection at Fantastic Fest and Japan Cuts.

Reminiscent of Wait Until Dark, Man From Reno is a "whodunit," directed by Dave Boyle, starring Steven Seagall's daughter, Ayako Fujitani, as a Japanese mystery novelist named Aki; Pepe Serna, who played Angel in Scarface, as a small town, U.S. sheriff; and Kazuki Kitamura, who played one of the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill (Volumes I and II), as an international man of mystery, with various identities.

It might also be an excellent visual aid for English speakers who want to study the Japanese language, because there is so much dialogue in Japanese, with English subtitles.  There is also a scene in which two Japanese discuss how English speakers tend to misunderstand and mispronounce certain Japanese words.  Comparison is also made between expensive parking in California and free valet service elsewhere (presumably Japan).  Also discussed is how dishonest Americans take advantage of Japanese tourists.  I imagine that the next version of the DVD will have options for English, Japanese, and Spanish audio and subtitles.

Man From Reno has various plots and sub-plots which kept my interest from beginning to end.  I'm not going to publish any spoilers, except perhaps to say that, based on the ending, there will probably be sequels.

Man From Reno begs various questions, including:

Who does the sheriff see fleeing the scene of a crime?
Who does the sheriff find at the scene of that crime?
Why does Aki quit writing mystery novels?
Why does Aki's lover leave so suddenly?
Where does he go?
What does he leave behind?
Why do so many people want it?
Where does he hide it?
Why keep lettuce in a suitcase?
Will the nerd with a crush on Aki keep her secrets?
Who will save Aki from the bad guys?
Will the sheriff get his man?

For answers to these and many other questions, see the movie!

For more information, visit:

www.manfromrenomovie.com

www.facebook.com/ManfromRenoFilm

twitter.com/ManFromRenoFilm

www.imdb.com/title/tt2287170

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/man_from_reno

www.kickstarter.com/projects/daveboyle/man-from-reno