Though it's a bit of history that's probably unknown to most viewers, at the beginning of the 20th century thousands of Japanese women set off from Japan to a new home on Hawaii, to marry Japanese men already working there. These "picture brides," like the film's protagonist Riyo, knew their prospective husbands only through letters and photographs, but it was worth it for a chance at a new and hopefully better life. Things don't always turn out as expected, though, and when Riyo arrives at Hawaii, she finds that neither her new husband nor her new life in general are even remotely what she expected. Disillusioned, Riyo is determined to save up enough money to return to Japan, but in order to do so, the "city girl" has to learn how to survive in the hard life of a worker on a sugar cane plantation.

Picture Bride is a slow-moving film, and at 95 minutes it's just about as long as it can be without starting to sag. The opening third of the film is the most engaging, as we are introduced to Riyo and share her initial experiences in Hawaii. As the film moves on, it shifts more into "slice of life" mode rather than storytelling, as we get various vignettes of Riyo's life on the sugar cane plantation. That's not to say that there's no connecting thread: in fact, all the experiences that Riyo has, and that we share, contribute to her growing understanding of what she wants from her life, and what her life on Hawaii has to offer.

It's in the "slice of life" aspect that Picture Bride is most successful, giving us a glimpse of a place and time that's both exotic and familiar: the problems that the immigrant workers face on Hawaii are common to workers everywhere (and it's a useful reminder that while modern-day unions may not be perfect, they're a definite improvement over the kind of abuses workers get when the boss has all the power and they have none). But throughout the film, Picture Bride keeps a tight focus on Riyo and her reaction to the difficult circumstances that she finds herself in. While there are a number of areas that hint at where the film could have branched out into a more elaborate plot, such as the proposed strike, the film sticks close to Riyo's perspective. In that way, Riyo's friendships, her relationship to her "picture husband," and her personal reaction to her new life on Hawaii always stay front and center.

Picture Bride is a quiet film, one that doesn't dazzle but does achieve its ends reasonably well. One of the things that undoubtedly sustains the film is its solid cast, with Youki Kudoh (Snow Falling on Cedars) doing an excellent job as Riyo, and the other actors handling their roles nicely as well. Film buffs will also appreciate seeing one of the final performances of the famous Japanese star Toshiro Mifune, who provides a delightful vignette as a traveling showman of films for the plantation workers.

The DVD

Video

Picture Bride appears in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, and is anamorphically enhanced. The image quality comes in as above average, but a few transfer issues keep it from being as good as it could be. Some noise as well as the occasional print flaw appears in the image, while contrast tends to be too much on the heavy side during night-time scenes. Apart from that, the image is pleasing to the eye, with a warm and usually quite natural-looking color palette. The English subtitles are optional (and when turned on, they correctly appear only for the Japanese dialogue).

Audio

The mixed Japanese/English soundtrack is presented in Dolby 2.0, and does the job reasonably well. The dialogue is generally clear and clean, and the track overall sounds natural. Optional English subtitles are included.

Extras

Miramax has given Picture Bride some nice supplements in this DVD release. First off is a 35-minute making-of featurette called "The Picture Bride Journey." It's an informative look at the genesis of the film's idea as well as its production, with interviews from director/co-writer Kayo Hatta and others. Kayo Hatta also provides a full-length audio commentary for the film. We also get a music video of "Picture Bride," a song from an album that Youki Kudoh released shortly after the film, as well as a theatrical trailer.

Final thoughts

A quiet film that gives us a glimpse of life on the Hawaiian plantations of the early 20th century, Picture Bride received critical attention at several film festivals, including winning the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. It's worth picking up if you're a fan of independent films or if the historical premise intrigues you. Recommended.