Initial D Live Action 頭文字D (2005)

World Region: Hong Kong
Starring: Jay Chou, Edison Chen, Anne Suzuki
Rating: 7/10
Music Innovation: 8
Good fun and great music plus Jay Chou

This is the live action version of Initial D, which is a manga series and anime in Japan. I have not read the manga, so I was watching this fresh. For this rendition, a Hong Kong production crew led by the amazing Andy Lau took it on and did a surprisingly good job. They added a lot of nice Japanese touches like a Jizo statue on the side of the drift road, techno-house pieces that use tradional Japanese vocals with rap, the things Tatsuki's dad sees when he gets drunk, geta at home, and shoji doors.

The best thing about this movie is the music. It's a swinging and creative and emotional mix that really adds to the movie. There's low-key flow rap paired with sunrises, pinging techno-rap for race scenes, and warm-fuzzy vocals and gentle traditional Chinese string instruments for romantic scenes. The sound editors have mixed some fresh techno-house/rap by the HK group Ghost Style for car scenes with soothing piano and flutes for softer scenes. They add in some stylish and breathtaking feminine vocals into some of their downbeat grooves. These guys have also added taiko drums on the front end of some of their techno racing songs, and the effect just makes my heart race. Overall, words that come to mind when I think about Ghost Style in Initial D are "tasty fresh" and "innovative." Kinson Tsang King-Cheung, who lead sound production for this film, won the award for best sound direction at the 25th Hong Kong Awards.

There is a short segment of candy laden electronica, "A Racer's Dream (飄移世界)," that was so nice and simple that it made me go, "Oh so this is life. Take it easy and everything is okay and happy. Pay attention to the small things." One of my favorite tracks is the smooth, swingin' "Gloves 2 Ali (豆腐宅急便)." One of the other songs I love, "Tanning in the Sunray (沙灘戀曲)," is used for a cute romantic scene. It has a clean, sparkling warm electric piano intro that flows into gentle orchestrals in the background with sunny, soothing lyrics.

Okay, I love the music. I also really like Jay Chou. He was a perfect pick to play Takumi, the low-key, cool-headed tofu delivery guy who learns how to drift because he wants to deliver the tofu as fast as he can. The story is good fun, and I really like it. Takumi probably doesn't know what "touge 峠" (drifting) is, but that's exactly what he does in his beloved AE86. And he does it better than the pros in their high-powered, tricked out cars. Takumi is the underdog, the ghost rider who comes out of nowhere and coolly blows everyone away. Jay Chou is great for this role with his "Mmhmm, okay, but watch this" kind of style. He's also an endearing low-key, love-struck sweetie when he's with his girlfriend. Initial D is a movie that was so good it surprised me since I wasn't expecting much from a HK remake of a popular Japanese manga. Recommended for lovers of sound and Jay Chou fans.