Leonie 2010

     This film is a period drama of the story of Leonie Gilmour, an early 20^th century literary editor who married the celebrated Japanese poet Yone Noguchi.  They had a son and he became the famed artist Isamu Noguchi.  Leonie graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia and she received a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in France for a year.  She accepts a job teaching at an all-girl’s high school in New York.  She dreams of being an editor and answers an ad in the newspaper by Yone.  They marry but Yone goes back to Japan because of prejudices due to the Russo-Japanese War and the news that Leonie is expecting a child.  Leonie is worried about discrimination against her son Isamu and she later follows Yone to Japan.

     The photography is beautiful of the different areas where Leonie lived.  The cultural differences between Japan and America of this period are emphasized too.  Leonie must have been a firecracker in her day as a feminist woman but that is not brought out until later scenes in this portrayal even though the performance by Mortimer is good. 

102 min, Drama directed by Hisako Matsui with Emily Mortimer, Shido Nakamura, Christina Hendricks, Mieko Harada, Jan Milligan, Keiko Takeshita, Takashi Kasiwabara.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 4.3 out of 10, 42% critic 70% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.