Talking’ Tarantino: “You Talk Too Much!”
Advertisements made before the 2010s tend to just hit differently.
The over-saturated colours, smiley-faced families, and exaggerated soundtracks inhibit a feeling of nostalgia that appeals to everyone. From the 80s to the early 2000s Japan was no stranger to these types of ads, and they had the bubble-era budget to back things up. These commercials were exciting with a few wildly entertaining cultural twists that at times verged on absurdity. If you’ve ever seen that episode of Friends where Joey gets cast in the Japanese Lipstick commercial or Bill Murray in Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation, then you’ll be surprised to know that these renditions aren’t actually that far off from the way things really are. In fact, they were worse; with Hollywood, starlets tossed into a range of strange scenes across an array of commercials from beer to cell phone providers.
Among these videos, a favourite is the 1997 commercial for Kansai Digita Phone, a now-defunct mobile phone company. In this series of commercials, Quentin Tarantino is the picture of an ill-mannered foreigner, causing disturbances everywhere he goes by speaking too loudly and too long on the phone. Much to his confusion, Tarantino eventually becomes likened to a criminal, as passerbyers around him are increasingly irritated by his relentless blabbering. Each video ends in either chase or arrest by none other than Sonny Chiba, concluding with the slogan “If you’re going to talk then use Digital Phone.”
Despite the fact that these commercials, now found in the dark corners of the internet, may appear to be cringey today, partaking talents were paid handsomely, often times rivalling compensation from Hollywood projects, and since back then they were only available to be seen in Japan, there were no regrets to be had.
The commercial shoots, which typically take an average of three days, are estimated to pay between $1-3 million for A-List stars, as such the archives are diverse and fruitful.
