Fine, Totally Fine

This is a delicate Japanese comedy about how life can be disappointing. It features three main characters approaching 30; none of whom are satisfied with their lives:- A nervous, shy girl with an unusual affection for fish sausages, aspires to be an artist but is too clumsy to hold down a job, a hospital manager who never confronts anybody and commands no respect because he is always trying to be nice out of fear that people won't like him and the most compelling and amusing of all, Teruo, an obtuse, sadistic and dim-witted park keeper. He likes scaring kids and dreams of one day building a super-ultra-haunted-house-deluxe, which will literally scare people to death.

There is a briefly explored sub-plot in which the two men compete for the affections of the girl, but this is never resolved as she finds love with another man. None of their dreams are realised and there are no scenes where emotional hopes are addressed or aspirations achieved.

This is not a fantasy film, but rather a film about fantasy. The charming movie is set predominantly in a second hand book shop belonging to Teruo's father. Despite the lack of a neat, conventional plot resolution, the film is redeemed by a poignant message about the pleasure that can be taken simply by enjoying one another's company.

I love when the female lead, the clumsy sweetheart she is, says "I'm fine," while she struggles with her hilariously appalling motor skills, such as opening simple things, holding things, wrapping things, and walking from one side of the room to the other to get or return something. She does this all because she is very shy and nervous, and it's endearing while vaguely tear jerking, at least for me. She struggles while she is trying to survive, and it's admirable, but also kind of painful to see her struggle with the things she struggles in.

Maybe she has social anxiety, and the directing style of the film seems to exaggerate for comical purposes the true symptoms of being insecure while kind, such as breaking things or hurting yourself while on your way to do something simple.

Everyone in this film is not fine at all. They're struggling to find jobs, life purpose, and love. Each character. This is the most quirky comedy I've seen in a while and for the time being ever, and definitely out of Japan. I have ruefully come across loads of random and hunted Japanese films simply to find one like this and I have failed immensely, while discovering Gore meantime, which has its good and bad.

It's so funny, so many laugh out loud moments, memorable moments, odd moments, adorable moments, never a boring moment, just more of a downtime from the peculiar previous scene.

Basically the two friends start feuding after her, but way into the film. I suppose some people were expecting their feud to be early, ongoing and raucous. So they call it boring. But we need to understand the characters before we can value the feud, no? Their rivalry is approached with a series of failed attempts to find love or status or excitement while on the job, including their crush's eccentric failures. And it's adorable the way the two friends separately meet the girl finally, and when they are all in the same space finally. People need patience and need to appreciate a film that doesn't just jet to the plot without character development nor creativity; this builds it with scenery and cinematography.

A quirky comedy, I was really impressed with Kimura Yoshino. She portrayed her introverted character very well, and there were funny scenes here and there with her clumsiness, but I just wasn't feeling it. I absolutely did not connect with the characters. The natural creepiness of Yoshiyoshi was perfect for this role, and although I enjoyed seeing him in many movies and TV shows and he was pretty funny in this movie, I don't believe for a second that he has what it takes to be in the leading role. And of course, quirky movies like this never has a strong storyline. I guess it's a love-or-hate movie that just didn't work for me.

I really liked the message in this movie though, that life is not all about money or success, and it's fine to just be yourself. I have enjoyed Kimura Yoshino's acting before, and I love it even more now. Definitely looking forward to see more of her movies in the future.

"Fine, Totally Fine" was a rather disappointment of a movie. I had read lots of nice reviews about it, so I decided to buy it from Amazon. And now having sat through it, I feel somewhat disillusioned.

The story in "Fine, Totally Fine" moves forward at an amazingly slow pace. The story takes forever to get nowhere. And that is a such a drag to sit through. Sure the story had some interesting moments, but wow, it was just unbearable to sit through. The story is about being human, about being somewhat different in the world and trying to fit in.

Now, what worked in the movie was the quirky characters. Each of the different characters in "Fine, Totally Fine" were really odd in some way - some major, some minor. And the people they had cast to portray these odd people did a really great job, and that was what kept me sitting through this movie. It was really nice to see these odd people brought to life on the screen, despite the movie was painstakingly slow in progressing.

For a Japanese movie of this type, then "Fine, Totally Fine" could have been much, much better - sad to say. Sure, this is a beautiful movie in its own rights, but I just think that I wasn't the particular target audience that the director had in mind when they made this movie. Despite the quirky and lovable characters, then "Fine, Totally Fine" is not a DVD that I will be putting into the DVD player a second time. It was just too slow a movie.

I am a big fan of Asian cinema, and "Fine, Totally Fine" wasn't amongst the enjoyable movies in my particular liking.

This is a small film in that it is about a few people and the film just goes along slowly, but there is an unusual poetic sense to it. Teruo is 29 and a tree pruner who also delights in scaring people and wants to open up "The Ultimate Haunted House". Akari watches a homeless woman who displays dolls outside her ramshackle dwelling. Akari paints pictures of her. She gets a job as an orderly at a clinic and is a total klutz and resigns. She ends up working with Teruo's father's bookshop, as the father, seemingly needing a break from life, takes a trip. There are also side characters, including a young man with half of his face covered in a rash. This film is a seemingly nonchalant view of the human condition, of acceptance of those who are "different" and a search for happiness that may be just within reach. This is not a mainstream film, it is slow moving, with intermittent comedic flourishes, but it is very well made. You feel better about yourself after watching it and that is some ringing endorsement.