Buena Vista Home Video Picture Bride - Romantic Drama Movie DVD - Perfect for Date Nights & Film Enthusiasts

The story behind the making of the "Picture Bride" is almost as fascinating as the film itself. This is the work of first time Director, Kayo Hatta, who, when she developed the idea and applied for funding, was still a student! You would never have a clue about the difficulties she faced in making this film, or that it was crafted by anyone but a seasoned professional, if you did not listen to her interview on the DVD disk. Produced on a shoestring budget, "Picture Bride" is only the second independent film to be made in Hawaii.The film focuses on two couples. Both wives were "Picture Brides", meaning their husbands selected them based on photographs. Photography was a new technology. In fact, it is not unlike Internet dating services today, where images are conveyed on computer screens, but at the time this was totally new. And like the Internet, no one was above deception. Ultimately this meant that prospective brides/grooms were not always what were expected.Husbands and wives did grueling, dangerous work in the cane fields, marriages between total strangers so far from home were often harsh, and dreams and expectations often died along the way. Twenty thousand such marriages took place in Hawaii between 1908 and 1924. The stories were based on interviews conducted by the director with still-living "Picture Brides". The characters of the two women were based on the personalities of the director's grandmothers.This novice director is absolutely outstanding, the film is magnificent to watch in the incomparable setting of Hawaii, the actors are superb, and it has captured the authentic feel of what it must have been like to be a "Picture Bride" arriving in Hawaii from Japan in the early 20th century. I look forward to seeing what future masterpieces this talented director will create.