I’m not someone who subscribes to Spotify. I don’t believe it provides more than what Youtube and an Adblocker provide. But that kind of backwards thinking means I sometimes have to watch weird clips to get to the music I’m looking for.
The other day, I had an urge to listen to ‘Six Days’, specifically the Mos Def remix of the song. On Youtube, one of the better copies exists in the form of the opening credits of the Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift, a movie I almost never think about, and frankly, don’t remember much of.
However, having rewatched it for the sake of the song, it suddenly struck me that the Tokyo Drift could be a much more ambitious movie than I had previously assumed it to be.
I’m not talking ambitious in terms of scale or action. I’m talking about depth, character development, etc.
What’s the significance of being picked out for a security check with a duck mascot? What’s the significance of all those CCVT monitors watching the students? Was there there Orwellian plot points?
What’s with the jock beating up the red indian pinata?
Why won’t the main character stand up against those bullies in the workshop?
I remember it was an enjoyable but rather mediocre film, but Tokyo Drift was released in 2006, when I was 15 and thought ‘300’ was the pinnacle of cinema. The only things I remember from this third installment of the Fast & Furious was that Han dies (*spoiler alert*), everybody you should care about is a ‘Gaijin’, and something about American muscle cars being inferior. Oh, also that annoying song by the Teriyaki Boyz.
But rewatching this scene shows that the filmmakers put some thought into foreshadowing, character development, and played on the idea of belonging. So, is Tokyo Drift worth rewatching? Or am I reading too much into the opening scene? Who am I kidding, it’s probably as shallow as any of the other movies.
