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How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 17 March 2015
This article is a review of CHASUKE'S JOURNEY.Seen at the Berlin International Film Festival 2015. (For more information, click here.)
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“He is left miserable by a writer ripping off movies,” Chasuke (Ken’chi Matsuyama)
As the ‘Office Kitano’ logo and accompanying jingle hit the screen pre-opening credits, there is a Pavlovian response of well-being that passes over one. Rapturous combination of dreamy imagery and violence has made the brand. Takeshi Kitano is not in the director’s chair, Sabu is, adapting his own novel. Bloodletting coupled to surreal imaginative flourishes makes for a wondrous first half. Momentum dissipation and a lack of distinction during the second half prevent modern must-see status being attained. (Don’t let that put you off however – the truly great are achieved by not dropping the ball, an unfortunate trait of almost universality in moviemaking.)
As the ‘Office Kitano’ logo and accompanying jingle hit the screen pre-opening credits, there is a Pavlovian response of well-being that passes over one. Rapturous combination of dreamy imagery and violence has made the brand. Takeshi Kitano is not in the director’s chair, Sabu is, adapting his own novel. Bloodletting coupled to surreal imaginative flourishes makes for a wondrous first half. Momentum dissipation and a lack of distinction during the second half prevent modern must-see status being attained. (Don’t let that put you off however – the truly great are achieved by not dropping the ball, an unfortunate trait of almost universality in moviemaking.)
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Portraying heaven, Sabu opts for a place of diligence. Screenwriters, literally writing on screens, have the task of concocting biographies for us here on Earth, where they are played out. All the stories are of course linked. From the Fates of Greek mythology to the notebooks of DEATH NOTE, celestial power controlling us has fascinated. CHASUKE’S JOURNEY updates to the most popular, accessible artform. Ex-yakuza, titular Chasuke (Matsuyama) serves tea in nirvana to the scribes, who often call on him to give story/character advice. Cinephiles can be valuable! His imagination injects verve to the blocked and hacks. Ascending is no guarantee of talent it seems. As demanding as an audience member tired of homogenous product, god sends a message to his vast team wanting more “avant-garde” storytelling.
Voice-over from Chasuke gets us acclimatised remarkably quickly. Each screenwriter focuses on a human. Particularly beloved is Yuri (Ito Ohno), a pretty mute woman (can you guess if she will eventually speak at the perfect moment?). Heartbreak to those in their angelic sector as Yuri is suddenly due to be run over and killed, her writer begs (the refreshingly already in love) Chasuke to return to our world and save her. Sans hesitation a race against time begins to avert tragedy, all the while our narrator/guide makes glib remarks about cinema (movie-lovers will lap up the references) and brisk detailed backstories of the characters he meets (which are hilariously elaborate).
Cherubic Chasuke may look on the surface, but when confronted, by gangsters, is unflinching in reprisals; death dealing though is not on the cards. In love, yet winningly sidetracked by ramen noodles, our hero’s mission is actually not diverted unexpectedly enough. Comedy, fantasy, action and time travel genres mashed together had the ingredients of something special. Energetic flourishes do not mask the conventional through line. CHASUKE’S JOURNEY ironically suffers the same criticisms levelled at its own celestial writers. So close to being a live action LEGO MOVIE.
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