In the wake of Academy Award winners “Argo” and “Lincoln” comes another film taking a plunge into history books, this time taking viewers into the dark pages of post-World War II Japan.
Though neither artistic nor historically dedicated, “The Emperor” fuses political drama with a neo-noir style, in a sort of “King’s Speech” meets “Chinatown” motif, to unfold an entertaining, albeit uneven, narrative of loyalty, politics and suspense in post-war Japan. The result is a film with a rapid pace and an undecided style that flirts with deep themes, but fails to explore them further.
Directed by Peter Webber, “The Emperor” retells the uncertainty of Emperor Hirohito’s fate after World War II, which rests in the hands of General Douglas MacArthur, played by Tommy Lee Jones, and General Bonner Fellers, played by Matthew Fox. Pressured by Washington and an infuriated American public looking for heads to roll, the pair must investigate the Emperor’s responsibility in initiating the war and decide whether he is to hang or go free. The fate of a volatile Japan fiercely loyal to its Emperor hangs delicately in the balance.
This story is told through a style which seems to lose itself, struggling to balance drama and suspense. It begins at lightning pace as a neo-noir with General Fellers playing detective, chasing down suspects among the Japanese political hierarchy. As the pieces start to fall together and the Emperor’s complex role in the war begins to surface, the film makes a sharp stylistic turn towards political drama, leaving all elements of suspense behind in an abrupt, disappointing way. A love story between Fellers and a Japanese schoolteacher also trails the movie, but distracts from the main plot rather than evoke much emotion from the love story.
Tommy Lee Jones, fresh off of an Academy Award-nominated performance in “Lincoln,” returns to the historical drama stage as the cigar-smoking, charismatic General MacArthur. His character is simple, often cartoonish, but his flamboyant presence in the few scenes he appears draws out the cultural differences between Japan and America with abold juxtaposition.
Fox, who plays General Fellers, looks the part perfectly, but never seems to act it. Whereas MacArthur may seem too exaggerated, Fox’s character always seems understated, even hollow at times. The film leaves a viewer wondering who Fellers really was. As the general, Fox fails to carry his weight as the lead commander in the investigation of the Emperor.
While the American armed forces come across as little more than Hollywood stereotyped soldiers, their Japanese counterparts offer spectacular depth and a subtlety characteristic of Japanese cinema. With only a few minutes on screen, each character develops a deep, complex personality distinct from the rest, yet united through unwavering devotion to a common idea of honor and loyalty.
The production and score strengthen these performances with a beautiful visual and auxiliary experience that holds the film together, drawing out the clash of and disorder within post-war Japanese culture. Grant Major, production designer for “Lord of the Rings,” delivers again with meticulously detailed yet aesthetically pleasing sets. The score, composed by Alex Heffes, acts as a force that guides viewers through the grooves of the movie, adapting to the changing styles with equally powerful classic film-noir and Oriental music.
The film, unlike its score, maintains an uncomfortable distance from the social atmosphere in Japan, uncharacteristic of historical dramas, by offering only a peripheral exposure to the postwar Japan setting. The camera rarely departs from the main characters, under-utilizing the great set production that viewers only get a glimpse at as the camera rolls from scene to scene. It never delves into Japan, never brings a different world and time to the audience, merely a story. A bar scene in which General Fellers fights some belligerent natives is as close as viewers get to the social atmosphere of everyday Japan.
“The Emperor” makes it a point to emphasize that Japan’s guilt in the war is not black and white, but rather an ambiguous shade of gray. Unfortunately, “The Emperor” leaves this shade unexplored; instead of taking a narrow narrative approach that pays respectable reverence to history, it lacks novelty in storytelling or historical recreation. “The Emperor” hovers over the boundary of entertainment flick and artistic cinema, but finally falls to the former.