“Collateral” A sensual night in LA captured in groundbreaking digital photography

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2019.05.13Naoto Mori

Is the villain Tom Cruise based on Beat Takeshi from “GONIN”?

Another big highlight of Collateral is Tom Cruise's role as a villain. One of my favorite scenes is when Vincent, the hitman he plays, visits a jazz club with Max. The band is playing " Spanish Key " from Miles Davis ' 1970 masterpiece " Bitches Brew " (recorded in 1969). After the performance, Vincent invites Daniel (Barry Shabaka Henry), the owner of the store who was playing the trumpet, to sit with him. Daniel starts bragging about how he once performed at this store with Emperor Miles.

"Guess who walked into the store on July 22, 1964? It was Miles Davis. He came in after finishing a recording job at Columbia Studios."

At this point, anyone who considers themselves a fan of Miles to some degree would probably shake their head and say, "Huh?" I believe it was in 1964, when he had no studio recordings and was touring all over the world. Moreover, in mid-July of the same year, the legendary first performance in Japan will be held! (There is a live album called `` Miles in Tokyo' '). A few days later, you worked on a recording and came to this store?

I don't know the truth. However, perhaps sensing the shady nature of this story, Vincent asks Daniel a quiz about ``Miles' encounter with music,'' and before Daniel can answer properly, he ruthlessly kills Daniel. Well, I can't help it. He was originally the fourth of the five targets that Vincent had contracted with his client.

Finally, the story reaches its climax when a surprising twist is revealed: Who is the fifth and final target that Vincent is aiming for? The last scene in the subway is worth paying attention to. Tom Cruise's death here is very similar to the death of Kyoya, the assassin played by Beat Takeshi in Takashi Ishii's ` `Gonin '' (1995).

There is a famous scene in which he gets into a shootout with Mitsuya, a young man played by Masahiro Motoki, on a long-distance bus, and dies, saying, ``It's too hard...I need a break.'' When "Collateral" was released, there was a lot of talk about it, such as "Michael Mann or Tom Cruise watched 'GONIN'?!", and it's true that both Kyotani and Vincent wore the same gray suits. (Incidentally, there is also the coincidence of ``five people''), so it would not be strange at all if the relationship of influence is a genuine fact.

Of course, this resemblance does not diminish the value of the work. More than that, I was driven by the desire to experience the LA of ``Collateral'' and the Shinjuku of ``GONIN'' at the same time. How great would it be to experience this double feature in the darkness of a movie theater? Is there any place that would be willing to work with us on a “CITY OF NIGHT” project between Japan and the US?

Text: Naoto Mori

Film critic, writer. Born in Wakayama in 1971. He is the author of ``Cinema Garage: Children in the Ruins'' (Film Art Publishing), and edited ``Movies of the Zero Years+'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), among others. He regularly writes for magazines such as Weekly Bunshun, Asahi Shimbun, TV Bros., Men's Nonno, Kinema Junpo, Eiga Hiho, and Cinema Today.

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"Collateral"

Blu-ray: 1,886 yen + tax

DVD: 1,429 yen + tax

Publisher: NBCUniversal Entertainment

*Information as of May 2019.

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