Rising Sun (film)

Rising Sun

The movie poster for Rising Sun
Directed by Philip Kaufman
Produced by Peter Kaufman
Written by
Based on Rising Sun
by Michael Crichton
Starring
Music by Tōru Takemitsu
Cinematography Michael Chapman
Edited by
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • July 30, 1993 (1993-07-30)
Running time
 125 minutes
Language
  • English
  • Japanese
Budget $40 million[2]
Box office $107.2 million[3]

Rising Sun is a 1993 American crime film written and directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Sean Connery (who was also an executive producer), Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Michael Crichton and Michael Backes wrote the screenplay, based on Crichton's novel of the same name.[4]

Plot

During a party at the United States offices of a Japanese corporation in Los Angeles, a professional escort named Cheryl Lynn Austin (Tatjana Patitz) is found dead, apparently after a violent sexual encounter. Police Detectives Web Smith (Wesley Snipes) and John Connor (Sean Connery), a former police captain and expert on Japanese affairs, are sent to act as liaison between the Japanese executives and the investigating officer, Smith's former partner Tom Graham (Harvey Keitel).

During the initial investigation, Smith believes the evidence indicates a sexual encounter and murder; however, Connor insists a deeper involvement by the corporation exists. After a grueling investigation, Connor receives a disc which contains the surveillance footage from the night of the murder. This later turns out to be a digitally altered video of the actual murder.

The alteration implicates Eddie Sakamura, who is the son of a wealthy Japanese businessman (a longtime friend of Connor). Eddie appears to get killed fleeing a police car chase when his sports car blows up, but is later revealed he was not driving and is eventually killed after a shoot-out with Japanese gunmen, but not before he gives Connor the original, unaltered disc. During this, Graham clearly is actually working with the Japanese faction. After recovering the unaltered footage, Connor and Smith find the video shows that the prostitute was only unconscious following rough sex with a powerful US senator at the party, and that a company employee strangled her after the senator left. Smith sends stills from the video to the Senator and his entourage, and the Senator commits suicide.

The head of the Japanese corporation claims to have been unaware of the crime and subsequent cover-up, and exiles the perpetrator of the cover-up to a desk job in Japan. Company aide Bob Richmond, identified as the murderer, runs away, but is soon taken care of by Eddie's Yakuza friends, who bury him in wet concrete. In the final scene of the film, the half-Japanese computer expert Jingo Asakuma casts doubt on whether he was really the murderer, or was taking the fall to protect someone higher up in the organisation.

Cast

Reaction

Box office performance

Rising Sun was released on 30 July 1993 in 1,510 theaters across the US.[5] It grossed $15,195,941 (24.1% of total gross) on its opening weekend. During its run in theaters, the film grossed $63,179,523 (58.9%) in the US and $44,019,267 (41.1%) overseas for a worldwide total of $107,198,790. The film spent six weeks in the Top 10.

Awards and critical reception

The film received a mixed response from critics.[6][7][8][9] It currently holds a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[10]

Rising Sun won the ASCAP Award in the category of Top Box Office Films in 1994, and was nominated for a PFS Award in the category for best Exposé in 1994.

References

  1. ↑ Galbraith, Jane (1993-03-18). "'Rising' Differences: Michael Crichton's best-seller is opening this summer. But not without script battles and character changes". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  2. ↑ http://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/08/09/The-Fugitive-busts-out-at-top-of-box-office/4531744868800/
  3. ↑ "Rising Sun". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  4. ↑ Variety film review; August 2, 1993.
  5. ↑ Fox, David J. (1993-08-02). "'Sun' Rises Over 'Justice'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  6. ↑ Schickel, Richard (1993-08-02). "Cultural Confusions". Time. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  7. ↑ "Cross-Cultural Crime Story". Newsweek. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  8. ↑ "Rising Sun". Washington Post. 1993-07-30. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  9. ↑ Dutka, Elaine (1992-03-08). "OFF-CENTERPIECE : MOVIES : Hollywood Scared of the Japanese? (You Say They Like This Movie?!)". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  10. ↑ Rising sun at Rotten Tomatoes
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