Keanu Reeves and Japan: a marriage celebrated in Heaven. As early as last February, on the occasion of the premiere of the sensational John Wick: Chapter 4the Canadian actor had the opportunity to come clean about his long-standing fascination with Rising Sun culture: “Japanese anime and cinema are definitely two things that I love and have influenced me.. And the bushido is, without a doubt, one of the themes of our film. You know, the samurai code (…) It seemed to us that the idea of honor and sacrifice fit very well”.
Apart from the series John WickReeves’ filmography includes works such as The Legend of the Samurai: 47 Ronin (2013) or the documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015), where he worked as a narrator, not to mention how much his Neo owes to the protagonists of Mamoru Oshii or Katsuhiro Otomo. There’s a zen halo surrounding himand I don’t know what that automatically transforms it into the best bridge between East and West that one can conceive within the star system current. Therefore, we cannot think of another star more qualified than him to star in the new advertisement for the famous Suntory whiskeywhich this year celebrates its first centenary at the hands of Sofia Coppola, whose relationship with the brand, the country and Keanu Reeves himself is also very interesting.
The filmmaker was partially inspired by a Suntury advertisement that her father, Francis Ford Coppola, shot with Akira Kurosawa in the 1970s to write the screenplay for Lost in Translation (2003), whose co-star, played by Bill Murray, is forced to spend a few days in Tokyo for the exact same reason. In fact, the mythical sequence of “For relaxing times, make it Suntory time” is cited in an ad that not only aims to celebrate a century of good whiskey, but also some of the most iconic advertising campaigns of all times. Thus, Reeves would simply be adding his name to a legacy that includes those of Sammy Davis Jr., Sean Connery, Matt Dillon, Peter Falk, Herbie Hancock or the Duran Duran group, many of whom appear in the spot itself (whose montage of image and sound is almost as intoxicating as a good double on the rocks). In fact, it is not even the first time that the protagonist of My private Idaho (1991) announces Suntory, well he did it almost exactly thirty years ago. Time is a flat circle.
In fact, that old commercial was recorded shortly after Keanu met Sofia on the set of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). They were dating for a few months, but they have maintained a cordial relationship ever since. And that, as we recently found out, he had technically just married Winona Ryder on that same set… There are times when you definitely need to drink a whiskey while listening Crimson and Clover to put things in perspective.
2023-05-29 09:58:10
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