[Weekly Update] Spoiled by the Cast List

Happy New Year!

WEEKLY UPDATE

Thank you:
This wraps up another year of Accented Cinema. As stated in previous update, we have done quite a few multi-part videos this year, all of which I'm proud of. As always, your support is the reason I can keep doing this. Thank you so much!

Last video:
Hope you enjoy our last video on the best 2024 Chinese language films. The self-imposed time limit means I have to overlook a lot of good movies, but I do think it also makes me think carefully about which films are interesting to you, and I think I make the right choices. If you have seen the films, leave a comment and let me know how you feel!
Since I had to cut a lot of films off the list, I'll be posting more recommendations over the next few days on Bluesky and Mastodon. So, come and hangout! I'll also be posting some more Journey to the West adaptation trivials!

Bonus video:
Bonus video will go live tomorrow. It'll be about The Substance, one of if not the most unforgettable movie of 2024. Honestly, I kinda regret the decision to talk about this film, since half the movie is so spicy I can't show it on YouTube, and I also don't want to spoil anything. But I'm in the mood to recommend movies, and this is one more movie I think I would recommend.

MEDIA TALK

So, I've been sick for the past month. On the days I couldn't work, I sat down and play some video games. The last game I played was Judgment, a Like a Dragon spin off that makes use of celebrity faces, most notably Takuya Kimura as the protagonist.

But Kimura is not the only celebrity in the game. There are actually a whole bunch of them. In this game, you play as a detective trying to hunt down a serial killer. Yet, for anyone who's familiar with Japanese actors, the mystery is spoiled almost instantly.

It's like, dude, that face is clearly too famous not to be the main villain. He has three times more polygons than other side characters!

This is what I want to talk about this week, stories spoiled by casting choices. There is, in fact, an entire TV trope article about this topic. And it's something that's always fascinating to me.

Funnily enough, this happens multiple times in Like a Dragon games. In Yakuza 6, protagonist Kiryu is looking for a mystery person. On his journey, he met a fellow Yakuza played by Hiroyuki Miyasako, a fairly famous comedian. He is accompanied by his grunt, Tatsuya Fujiwara.

Having played Light Yagami in the Death Note movies, and Shishio in the Rurouni Kenshin movies, Fujiwara is a bona fide mega star, way too famous to be a grunt with no plot significants. Indeed, watching any YouTubers playing this game, and they instantly recognize Fujiwara, despite Miyasako being the main focus in most of the scenes.

Going into movies, I remember watching Detective Chinatown 2, and had the same experience. In this detective movie, the protagonist is chasing after a mysterious serial killer. And about halfway through, this forensic investigator shows up unprompted, with no interaction with the protagonist, does not offer any comedic materials in a comedy, and does not push the story forward in any way. He's also played by Michael Pitt, way too famous for a side character with no plot significants.

This is not my experience, but I do have friends who can do this. Whenever they watch Detective Conan, they can always instantly recognize who is the killer. Because the killer always has the biggest name voice actors, since they'll have to give an emotional monologue about their murder motive later in the show.

I think the only counter example of this is The God of Cookery, a Stephen Chow movie in which Chow is betrayed by a no name sidekick at the beginning of act 2. Originally, Chow had someone famous planned for the role. Realizing the casting decision will instantly spoil the surprise, he changes the casting to Vincent Kok, who was predominantly a screenwriter, with only cameo roles occasionally. I'm not sure how effective it was, as the story in God of Cookery flows so fast, I never really had time to react to his betray. But you gotta appreciate the thought put into this.

So, do you have a similar experience? Have you watch a movie and instantly realizes a character's importance just by their star power? The list on TV trope is short and unsatisfying, so it'd be nice to know some more cool examples.

In any case, I'll see you in 2025!