Picture Bride [HD]

A BEAUTIFUL, HYPNOTIC FILM...
I had never heard of this film, but when I stumbled upon it in the video store, I found its premise fascinating. As the film explains, with the advent of photography, the Asian tradition of arranged marriages became modernized in the early twentieth century, allowing families and matchmakers to meet, using photographs of the prospective brides and bridegrooms in lieu of face-to-face meetings. This was especially convenient, when the parties sought to be matched lived in far-flung parts of the country or even different parts of the world. This film explores this phenomena within the context of the so-called "picture brides" of Hawai'i. It is estimated that between 1907 and 1924, approximately twenty thousand young Asian woman from Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, became "picture brides", leaving their native country and journeying to Hawai'i to become the wives of men that they had never met. This film is a composite of their stories and experiences.

The story begins in 1918 in...

Such a gorgeous film!
Stunning cinematography and an engaging plot make this film a must-see, especially for Japanophiles and social historians. You experience the emotions of a Japanese "picture bride," who must find a way to live with an elderly stranger for a husband, in a place far from home. The circumstances which bring her to Hawaii are also a fascinating education in superstitions and prejudices existing at the turn of the century on both sides of the Pacific. Just beautiful.

Eloquent
It's ashamed that this little gem hasn't garnered a larger following. "Picture Bride" is a terrific film that poignantly and accurately hits at the heart of the Japanese immigration to Hawaii in the early 1900's. A young girl, Riyo, apprehensively leaves Japan for Hawaii in order to marry a man she only knows through an aged photograph. Once there, she has to come to grips with the harsh reality that the man she is to marry is much older and the life in front of her is that of manual labor in the sugar cane fields. But through this a life is forged and a new generation is started in the beautiful Hawaiian isles. Having been born and raised in Hawaii, I can't begin to express how on-the-mark this film is. This, in part, is the story of my grandparents and my family.

The Hawaiian backdrop is wonderfully photographed. The performances are authentic and outstanding. Particularly impressive was the performance of Tamlyn Tomita who I had mistaken for a local (Hawaiian...

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