Tokyo Cowboy

Running time: 94 mins

Another delightful gem from Canada. In Tokyo, dreamy young fast-food worker No Ogawa is fired when the manager catches him splattering the customers' burgers all over the floor while practicing his cowboy fantasy quick-draw with his spatula. Freed at last to fulfill what he believes to be his ultimate destiny--becoming a cowboy--No sets out for the wide open spaces of the Canadian west where boyhood penpal Kate now lives. Arriving unannounced, No unintentionally sets in motion numerous events that turn the conservative little town upside down. Ironically, Kate, who is having problems of her own even before No shows up, feels she is just as much of a foreigner among the prejudiced populace and soon learns through her Japanese visitor that tolerance and acceptance are much safer as theoretical concepts than they real world behavior. In spite of the mocking ridicule from the locals that surrounds him, No doggedly pursues his dream of becoming a cowboy, even enlisting the aid of the local postman Bill, who No naively believes to be a genuine Indian. Through No and his unfamiliar ways, the townsfolk are suddenly forced to examine their own values and behaviors as never before. Filled with delightfully angled perspectives, Tokyo Cowboy takes your basic fish-out-of-water tale and spins it into a modern-day fable about the harmful nature of small-mindedness, the necessity for self-acceptance, and the importance of following your dreams. Artfully contrasting the spaciousness of the landscape with the gossipy claustrophobia of the town, director Kathy Garneau offers a touching and humorous parable that will leave you satisfied and smiling. --P.D. Crane