Mr Baseball is a formula sports film with a strong inter-racial romantic sub-plot. As such it is very predictable; but it's done so well, that you really don't care too much about knowing where you are going before you get there.
It's your basic fish out of water storyline and Tom Selleck is both convincing and entertaining as the first base hitter, traded from the major leagues to a Japanese franchise, where of course he experiences huge issues in adapting to both Japanese cultural life and the Japanese team-styled game.
Good to see the Japanese "undercard" of Ken Takakura, Aya Takanashi andToshi Shioya is given plenty of onscreen time to develop their characters in their own right, with Mr Baseball not just focussing on its title character. In particular I found myself very much looking forward to the scenes highlighting Takanashi's Hiroko's developing relationship with Selleck's Jack Elliot and her later interplay with Takakura's Uchiyama, who is Elliot's manager/coach of the The Dragons baseball team. Realistically, most Japanese characters speak Japanese, which is sub-titled in English, where necessary.
It's interesting that a film surrounding a sport huge in both Japan and North America is directed by Australian Fred Schepisi. Baseball is still a relatively minor sport in Australia. However the sports scenes never lacked any degree of authenticity to this writer and you don't need to be well-versed in the game to get a good feel for what is being played out onscreen.
Hope it's not to cheesy to add that Mr Baseball hits a home run in all departments.
It's your basic fish out of water storyline and Tom Selleck is both convincing and entertaining as the first base hitter, traded from the major leagues to a Japanese franchise, where of course he experiences huge issues in adapting to both Japanese cultural life and the Japanese team-styled game.
Good to see the Japanese "undercard" of Ken Takakura, Aya Takanashi andToshi Shioya is given plenty of onscreen time to develop their characters in their own right, with Mr Baseball not just focussing on its title character. In particular I found myself very much looking forward to the scenes highlighting Takanashi's Hiroko's developing relationship with Selleck's Jack Elliot and her later interplay with Takakura's Uchiyama, who is Elliot's manager/coach of the The Dragons baseball team. Realistically, most Japanese characters speak Japanese, which is sub-titled in English, where necessary.
It's interesting that a film surrounding a sport huge in both Japan and North America is directed by Australian Fred Schepisi. Baseball is still a relatively minor sport in Australia. However the sports scenes never lacked any degree of authenticity to this writer and you don't need to be well-versed in the game to get a good feel for what is being played out onscreen.
Hope it's not to cheesy to add that Mr Baseball hits a home run in all departments.