Tokyo Fiancée

Amélie (Pauline Ètienne) is a twenty year old Belgian expatriate, French tutor living in Japan. When Rinri's (Taichi Inoue) well-to-do father hires Amélie to teach his son, the two quickly fall in love. Although Amélie was born in Japan and adores everything about its culture, she painfully learns that that is not enough to be accepted in Japanese society. Will Rinri, a closet Francophile and lover of Yakuza film, find the balance needed to present Amélie to his family as an honorable Japanese woman?

Pauline Ètienne's Amélie shares the quirkiness of Audrey Tautou's character in the film of the same name ("Amélie"), all the allure of Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte from "Lost in Translation," and the gullibility of Shirley MacLaine's Charity Hope Valentine of "Sweet Charity." What separates "Tokyo Fiancée" from the aforementioned trio of hopeless romantic tales is the absolutely breathtaking scenery that cameraman Hichame Alaouié deftly captures. "Tokyo Fiancée" is a cinematic engagement worth accepting.