Domo Arigato

Domo Arigato

1972, 90 mins, R

Written, Produced, and Directed by Arch Obeler

Cast: Jason Ledger, Bonnie Sher

** out of ****

I’m an enthusiast for older classic and cult films in 3-D and often make the effort to see the ones that were shot and originally presented that way in the format. The experience, even at home, is often beguiling and a lot of fun. Sure, the makers of these films exploited the gimmick of having stuff jut out of the screen at you. What’s often fascinating is seeing the enhancement of depth going into the screen almost as though you would be sucked into the image yourself. What is sometimes unfortunate about the movies themselves is that they are often second or third tier to the visual splendor. Such is the case of “Domo Arigato”.

The story and characters are thinner than paper. An American GI (Jason Ledger) fresh from a tour in Vietnam, tours the wonders of early 1970s Japan with an American Tourist (Bonnie Sher) from Kansas. They see the sights, grow on one another, reveal however little about themselves the thin material allows them to. It’s really about fifteen minutes worth of story stretched out to six times that length. The only thing that keeps the viewer from getting totally bored are the 3-D visual which, if you consider that this is a version of Japan that probably no longer exists, are quite beautiful and arresting.

You might even say the 3-D saves the movie from itself because for the most part the material is stretched to such an extent that you hardly have anything else to talk about at all. The movie was made by Arch Obeler who was a pioneer on radio and of the 3-D format on film. He specialized in thirteen to thirty minute radio dramas early in his career and created the first ever 3-D feature in 1952 called “Bwana Devil”. That pioneering film is much better than this one which feels like it would’ve been better suited to a short radio program or short film to be palatable.

Each of the characters is dominated by one trait. Ledger is often sexually frustrated and tries at every attempt to get closer with Sher to go to bed with her only to get rebuffed. Sher plays a woman who (spoiler alert) is going blind and longs to see much of the natural world of Japan as possible before she can no longer see. The two of them have no chemistry which puts the audience at a distance immediately. It’s a distance that only grows throughout this groaner of a plot that reveals a twist later in the film long after we have stopped caring about these two. Their lackluster and dull performances don’t help either. I might have enjoyed the 3-D but I know most people won’t be able to see it that way and this film doesn’t have nearly enough substance to carry through for 90 minutes.