4.5 Tatami Mat Room of Dreams

On the heels of Miki Satoshi's indie hit Adrift in Tokyo (see my Nov. 12 entry) being given an extended theatrical run comes another idiosyncratic comedy from distributor Stylejam with Fine, Totally Fine (Zenzen Daijôbu, 『全然大丈夫』). I saw a screening of the film the other day ahead of its late January release at Shibuya's Cine Quinto (to be followed by other dates across the country) so I thought I'd share a few thoughts.

First, Ryuganji has interesting background skinny on director Fujita Yôsuke (藤田容介監督), star Arakawa Yoshiyoshi, as well as the latex creatures that appear in the film.

If you've ever been to Tokyo's Kanda or Jimbochô districts, or along pretty much any aging shôtengai then you've seen old furuhonya (used book shops) with never more than one or two dawdling customers and you wonder "How do they pay the bills?" That's the world of Fine, Totally Fine, where Teruo (Arakawa) works part-time as he dreams of building the most horrific haunted house ever made, practicing his scares on friends and little kids alike. His buddy Hisanobu (Okada Yoshinori) has a real job in a hospital's administration department, but still begrudgingly takes part in Teruo's fright experiments. They're both approaching thirty, unmarried and still basically doing what they did as kids.

At first I couldn't buy lovely Kimura Yoshino as a chronically fumbling, chikuwa-gobbling geek who gets hired and then fired at the hospital. But as the movie progressed I did believe that there could exist a person clumsy enough to snap their finger while pressing an elevator button. It's not as much of a transformation as Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich, for example, but it's a stark contrast to her over the top sexuality in Sukiyaki Western Django (see my Sept. 16 entry). Though it takes over an hour for the three main characters to actually hook up at the bookshop, which is too long in any screenwriting book.

For Eguchi Noriko fans (Tom you know who you are), she plays Okada's jealous co-worker at the hospital. Also good to see veteran Nikkatsu actor Kanie Keizô as Teruo's depressed dad.

Co-produced by Tohokushinsha, Stylejam and Pony Canyon, Fine, Totally Fine is a colourful little film with a lot of care put into the look of the characters and the production design. The aforementioned creatures and gore gags that populate Teruo's room are funny becuase they're so meticulously made. There are also some fantastic old school mock Daiei/Toho-style horror posters on his walls which were designed by the people at Viemo, who also do the Tokyo FILMeX posters.

There's a good supply of visual gags and dialogue yuks throughout, but overall I didn't find it as memorable as Adrift in Tokyo. But it's a matter of taste really -- I prefer stories about non-sexual romance between men than hormone-driven love between men and women.

I've lived in my share of fusty, musty tatami rooms and the movie really captures that feeling of lying on your futon imagining great things while it pisses rain outside. Kimura's character even has an old TDK cassette tape of rain sounds she plays. I'll keep my dry modern apartment, thanks, but I like this trend of depicting a much slower, less materialistic side of Tokyo that doesn't often get seen overseas.

Like a bad gag at a haunted house, I'm pretty sure this film will pop up at your favourite Asian/Japanese film festivals, wherever you might be dreaming.