Dorosute no hate de bokura

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.

A wonderfully clever almost Spike Jonze-esque indie film shot on a minuscule budget but with an overabundance of ideas.

A part time musician and cafe owner discovers that his tv is a window to 2 minutes into the future and he starts communicating back and forth between his past, present and future selves, his friends get involved and eventually multiple layers of story start playing parallel simultaneously in different parts of the future, present and past (it's complicated). All this is done with virtually no cuts. There may have been a few hidden ones here and there but even then the amount of planning and mental gymnastics to make this movie work at all, let alone as close to flawless as it is, is a testament to the ingenuity of the entire crew, both in front and behind the camera. I can't emphasize enough how cleverly this was made. When the movie starts and you get the premise you may think (I certainly did) "ok. This is cool but I could probably do that too with a few rehearsals" but then it gets so thoroughly complex and layered I laughed out several times in admiration.

Apart from the behind-the-scenes wizardry the movie never gets bogged down in high concept nonsense, instead it uses its clever SF premise to tell a small, fun and relateable story about this group of friends who happen upon a time-travelling tv.

Beyond the infinite two minutes was pure cinematic joy, I'm glad I got to check it out at this year's Nippon Connection and I'll order the bluray as soon as it becomes available.

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!

'Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020)' is an incredibly impressive low-budget science-fiction film about a group of friends who discover that a television and a computer monitor are linked via some sort of temporal anomaly. The monitor displays what the TV will see in two minutes, while the TV displays what the monitor has already seen two minutes ago. The film is, in essence, an examination of the age-old question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? The characters see what they're going to do, yet arguably only do it because they know they must. To them, the future has already happened; they seem to exist on a predestined timeline. The feature often follows its characters as they travel between the TV and the monitor, too. Because of this, the future becomes the past which becomes the present which becomes the past again. As you can see, the central concept is an extremely clever and heady one, and it gets even more complex as the piece progresses (in ways which I won't spoil here). Thankfully, the flick never trips over itself and also remains relatively easy to parse for its entire duration. It's intelligent, but not pretentious. It's all in good fun, too, and only carries the slightest hint of thematic potency. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that it plays out in what appears to be a single seamless take. Judging by the behind-the-scenes footage that plays during the credits (which also reveals that large portions of the picture were shot using a mobile phone), it appears the picture makes use of hidden cuts to achieve this. Nevertheless, it's still really spectacular and certainly must've taken a lot of planning to pull off. The piece is pretty much a choreographed dance in which the players have to interact with pre-recorded versions of themselves, recreating and reacting to the footage that plays out on the two screens that comprise the central temporal link. It's as enjoyable as it is admirable. The flick moves at a solid pace and doesn't feel as though it either outstays its welcome or artificially pads its length. It's entertaining pretty much from the first frame to the last. Despite all of its genuine brilliance, though, the thing is only ever so engaging or enjoyable. That's not to imply that it isn't engaging or enjoyable at all, rather that it only ever reaches a certain level of engagement or enjoyment. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't quite push past the promise of its solid opening movement or go above and beyond when it comes to how compelling it is. It's an odd complaint, I'll admit, and I'm not even sure if I'm conveying it correctly. Basically, I'm now trying to justify my entirely subjective and arguably redundant review score. The movie is technically triumphant, narratively complex and generally entertaining, but it only moves me to the point I feel as though I can rate it 7/10.

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.