Dorosute no hate de bokura

Kato (Kazunari Tosa) lives above the cafe he owns, a small space in a small life. One evening, he returns home from work to find that his image is on his computer and, even more, he's talking to him! It turns out that Kato-in-the-computer is Kato two minutes into the future, and that the television monitor in the cafe shows the same scene two minutes in the past. Before too long, Kato and several friends are literally playing with time, trying to figure out how to profit from this bizarre form of clairvoyance - before things begin to spin out of control....

This short (70 minutes) film is quite as goofy as the premise suggests, with a very loopy heart to it. Filmed on a smart phone by a first-time group of players and crew, using quite minimal sets, I was laughing within about five minutes of the opening, always a good sign. This year, Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival is mostly online again due to the pandemic, which is a shame - this is exactly the kind of film that our festival-goers embraces with open arms. Having to watch it on a smaller screen at home isn't quite the same, but I'm very pleased to have been able to see it at all - and FantAsia 2021 is off to a good start!

A strange tale of time travel that doesn't try to be serious or explain the implausible science others usually do. The comedy is really well done and the story very character driven. It reminds me much of Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers, which is another strange comedy from Japan. I like how here we are clueless along with the characters so we explore the situation along with them. While there is much that doesn't work or is just wrong from a "realism" standpoint but its not meant to be real. Just enjoy being swept along with the situation, finding answers and not finding answers as whatever happens just happens. Its just plain fun so sit back and enjoy the lack of stereotypical characters and events, maybe with a drink of hot chocolate.

Endearing, fast-paced, and very short Japanese movie about a man who discovers a TV in his cafe that shows images from two minutes in the future. How or why? Doesn't matter. Just go with it.

Some of his friends soon discover it and begin playing around with it, devising ways to look further into the future by pointing the screen that shows the future and the screen that shows that past at each other. Confusing but very fun and low-key time travel shenanigans ensue.

It's made to look like one shot but you can usually tell when they cut. Still, most shots appear to last at least three minutes, and some as long as five or more, so there still would have been an admirable amount of brainpower and coordination required to pull off some of these sequences, especially because multiple screens are involved.

It's the kind of movie that you realise you just need to go with the flow with, and once you do, it becomes a lot of fun. The low budget and restricted setting (it takes place in a cafe and a couple of small apartments on the floors above) don't impact how enjoyable and engaging it is for its short but sweet runtime.

It's hard to complain too much about some of the rough technical aspects (and to be fair, I didn't even realise they shot it on a phone while I was watching), and the acting is good for this kind of movie, but nothing amazing. Still, it's more than worth watching for the premise and creativity found within, and for being a unique and even inspirationally low budget movie with a very high concept.

Easy to recommend, and sure, I know the year is very young, but it's my favourite film I've watched in 2022 so far.

Japanese low budget cinema at its best! Normally, low budget American films are absolute trash with few exceptions, but Japanese ones are invariably charming and imaginative and this one's no exception. It's a quirky time travel comedy set in a cafe, where an unusual link to the future spells disaster. Extremely lovable characters, a natural humour throughout and an anything-goes feel make this a thoroughly entertaining little movie.

The actual concept is very complicated but the way they tell the story is amazing. I really got entertained. I had no difficulty to follow the concept. Actors and actresses are good too. You need to watch this to understand the droste effect and entertain meantime.