Ghost in a Shell (2017)---our first S Maison Director's Club experience

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52233222

In the near future, Major (Scarlett Johansson) is the first of her kind: a human who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people's minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that she has been lied to, and her life was not saved. Instead, it was stolen.-Paramount Pictures

Release date: March 31, 2017 (USA)
Director: Rupert Sanders
Adapted from: Ghost in the Shell
Music composed by: Clint Mansell, Lorne Balfe

Screenplay by: Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger

Based on Ghost in the Shell by: Masamune Shirow

If the Japanese who watched this in Shinjuku starting last March 16, which incidentally is my birthday, did not complain about Scarlett Johansson(SJ) playing the role of Motoko Kusanagi or Kusanagi Motoko, then who am I to question the decision of the Casting Directors:  Lucy Bevan,  Liz Mullane (original casting), and Miranda Rivers?

As the people who defended SJ said, Motoko or Major is a cyborg and what Dr. Ouélet saved was her complex mind and her soul/ghost and placed it in a "shell".  It doesn't matter what her country of origin or her ethnicity is.  Besides, the place where they all were/are or to be "dwelling" is filled with diverse cultures...a "global city".

I don't know if I was just cross-eyed or something, but Motoko Kusanagi became Motoko Kusanaci? Did it mean that the Motoko "here" in this live action feature is a "half-breed"?  

Notwithstanding all the complaints of equity et cetera,  I love the way it was written for the screen and how the "visionaries" envisioned the scenes and executed them.  In other words, the director is good, if not great, and so is the whole team.

The characters probably understood both Japanese and English, but spoke in the language they were or are comfortable with because of the possibility that because the "place" is indeed "global" in nature, then people, for survival, studied the "major" language(though debatable) of the world.

When the trailer was shown, I wasn't really interested.  I did not even buy the Manga Series or watch the animated version(or did I? The title is very familiar). Last Thursday, we were supposed to watch this, but ended up watching Carrie Pilby and Northern Lights(I don't think we really watched LIFE because we didn't even last 20 minutes(I can't say the same about another Ryan Reynolds film---that was "record breaking"), but dad did...at the very least  the cast is great, but...anyways, dad said there were "noble" things in the movie like sacrificing for the greater good) amid our very heavy day.

Why did we watch this then?  We wanted to have our very first S Maison Director's Club experience after celebrating something at the Golden Cowrie.  We have been hearing raves about this since it opened. We've seen and enjoyed Beauty and the Beast and dad was not interested in watching The Smurfs without my nephew, so...

Anyway, when the movie started, at least for me, there was no dead air.

How was our first S Maison Director's Club experience then?  It was fabulous.  The service is great! From the the lady at the box office/ticket sales "booth" named Kins, to the Butlers et al, to the adjustable seats that are "kind" to the lumbar spine area and nape, the food up to the movie itself, which include the audio-visual aspect(s) of the movie, of course..  I think I could liken the experience to the BHS Central Cinemas.  

from xoxomrsmartinez.com

(source)

💭💭💭💭💭

From imdb

THE CAST:

Scarlett Johansson as Major Mira Killian / Motoko Kusanagi (She really was cyborg-like and human at the same time)

Takeshi Kitano as Chief Daisuke Aramaki ("commanding" persona/a natural)

Michael Pitt as Hadley Cruz / Hideo Kuze (this guy is amazing)

Pilou Asbæk as Batou (I like the way he was not acting and that he seem to genuinely like dogs and the dogs like him in return)

Chin Han as Togusa (good, good...I liked the way he moved/moves)

Juliette Binoche as Dr. Ouélet (still beautiful and very motherly...at least to "Major")

Lasarus Ratuere as Carlos Isaacson / Ishikawa

Danusia Samal as Ladriya

Yutaka Izumihara as Saito (he is a natural)

Tawanda Manyimo as Borma

Peter Ferdinando as Cutter (was so good that I almost hated him for real)

Kaori Momoi as Motoko's mother (I like her)
Anamria Marinca as Dr. Dahlin (worried about all the nicotine intake, but she was good in acting nervous and scared)

Pete Teo as Tony

Rila Fukushima as a geisha

Yuta Kazama as Data Host

Christopher Obi as Ambassador John Kipling

Tricky

Michael Wincott (uncredited)