As a compulsive hoarder collector I buy these programs for every movie I see in Japan (except when they don't make them – fuck you Towa for your terrible rollout of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), mainly because they're unique and also because I'm always curious about how they present content from "deeper" movies (say, anything Yorgos Lanthimos makes) that the average Japanese audience won't necessarily get on first watch, especially with how much context gets cut in the subtitling process.
Most of these programs have the same basic content, give or take:
- introductions and story outlines
- cast/crew bios and character descriptions
- short interviews w/ a few key cast/crew
- charts of some sort that explain all of the character relationships or the worldbuilding
- promo stills or BTS photos
- essays/columns by critics, academics or other relevant writers
- a section highlighting whatever merch they're putting out (especially for comic book movies)
Even if you can't read Japanese I highly recommend programs ('pamphlets' in local parlance) as fun collectables or gifts for movie buff friends/family; ebay has a ton of them at pretty high prices but if you're in Japan there's a number of shops in Tokyo where they can be found at a bargain.
Anyway the movie was def. worth seeing in IMAX for the sound design alone and my Friday afternoon screening was pretty packed. Definitely wondered how many people in the theater understood the Boogaloo Boys reference, which is maybe why they need programs in the first place.
by dokool
2 Comments
Those are nice.
What was the Boogaloo reference? That the guy in the office building fight is wearing a Hawaiian shirt?