Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

A lot of fun.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I caught this interesting film at the Japanese Film Festival in Dublin - I had little expectations for it, but came away very pleasantly surprised.This is an unusual Japanese film - it is very much a theatrical presentation in all ways - it is an adapted theatre production but the director has made absolutely no attempt to 'open it out', it keeps the single set form of a play, with 'enter stage' and 'exit stage' movements by the actors. I assume this was partly an artistic choice, partly for budgetary reasons. But it certainly works well.The story is also seemingly quite un-japanese - a sort of society satire, seemingly a Japanese version of a Neil Simon style comedy of manners. It is set at the end of an annual party held by a wealthy Chief Executive. The main guests have gone, leaving a ragbag of tail-enders - a shy Toyota engineer who arrived late, a stylish younger couple, a seriously ill casual acquaintance of all present, and the two hosts - the slightly smug husband and his angry, waspish wife. She, seemingly enraged by having to be polite to previous guests she can't stand, lets loose on the shy engineer, teasing and mocking him for his admiring glances at the younger woman. This sets the stage for a series of misunderstandings and arguments as the group gets more and more drunk. The loose social connections between the characters leads to a very japanese style conflict as each seeks to gain their own bearings in this awkward situation. While the overall story threatens to run out of the control of the Director/writer, it is often hilarious as the characters joust and try to maintain their civility in the face of their female hosts overt hostility. Secrets are spilled, and things get even more awkward when the hosts handsome young son arrives. The film ultimately I think fails to hit its satirical targets, but its very entertaining nonetheless - while there are certain subtleties to the satire that doubtless only a Japanese audience will get, the Dublin audience I saw it certainly appreciated it and found the characters all too understandable as they scrabbled around trying to keep their dignity as the evening spins out of control.