Many comments compare Takeshi Kaneshiro's role with that of Brat Pitt and Nicholas Cage their earlier movies. To that, I like to add Kaneshiro's own "Lavender" (2000), a movie from HK in which he plays an angle, not the awe-inspiring variety but a rather lovable, playful, mischievous version.
Now, in his first Japanese role in the last 6 years, he plays Grim Reaper Chiba whose job is to make contact with "target" human beings scheduled for a sudden death (nothing to do with tennis matches) in 7 days, observe, and make a final judgment of whether to "proceed" or postpone. A few things we notice (or the director makes sure we notice) right away. First, every lead actors needs a side-kick (even Tom Hanks in "Castaway" has a volley ball) to talk to. What Chiba has is a black dog that is fully capable of human speech which, however, is represented by texts on a silent screen. You get used to it very quickly. Chiba talks normally to the dog.
There are a few other things. His touch withers plant and stuns humans into unconsciousness. He therefore often wears white gloves. This is also identification for his colleagues of whom we get to meet a few. He has never seen sunshine (which is not the case for his colleagues), for some reason. Yet another trait is Chiba's apparent inability to understand human emotions. This, coupled with some obvious communication problems, create comical situation that range from plain funny to subtly dark. But not understanding Japanese, I'm sure that quite a bit is lost in translation.
The movie is one of those three-story setups, but in three different time slots (past, present, future) three unrelated stories, at least initially. But the hints of the links are all there and I don't think it is the director's intention to craft convoluted twists. The focus is on the mood, the characters and how they interact with Chiba.
The first story is about a 27-year-old "OL" ("office lady" in Japan, sort of a "pink collar" worker) whose life has been a total failure. Every time she tosses a coin she always loses. There is a trace of romance here (to the extent that a Grim Reaper who has no human emotions is capable) but the main focus is how this girl grasps that one chance to go after what she really wants from life. For that, she is granted a reprieve the reason being that she has not yet fulfilled the objective of her life.
Refreshingly devoid of any repetition, symmetry or similarity is the second story about a mob boss facing a deadly showdown. But although the mob boss is the "client", it's his young protégé that is the true protagonist in this delightful grey (I wouldn't quite describe it as "black" not going far enough) comedy. The theme here is loyalty and betrayal. The ending is uplifting against all odds, the mob boss wins the shootout and bonds with the protégé. And there's a good twist in that although he is not killed in the shootout, Chiba takes him in he next day via a car accident, applying the same reasoning, but in the reverse direction his objective of life has been fulfilled.
The final story is futuristic, with humanoid robots that you can't even recognise as such. The robot is a maid to the protagonist, an old women who runs a barber shop in a quaint little house by the seaside. She recognizes Chiba right away for what he is and throws his favourite question what do you think about death? right back at him. She also has a strange request, for him to round up all the 7-year-old boys in town for a free hair cut at her shop. Everything eventually has an explanation, of course.
That's a general idea. The movie has not become one of the things it might have .thriller, suspense, mystery, Gothic. No, it is gently provoking, lightly teasing, casually amusing. It make no pretense of being profound but makes you think a little. The acting is all fine. The cinematography is pleasing. All in all, it's a movie that can be easily enjoyed.
Now, in his first Japanese role in the last 6 years, he plays Grim Reaper Chiba whose job is to make contact with "target" human beings scheduled for a sudden death (nothing to do with tennis matches) in 7 days, observe, and make a final judgment of whether to "proceed" or postpone. A few things we notice (or the director makes sure we notice) right away. First, every lead actors needs a side-kick (even Tom Hanks in "Castaway" has a volley ball) to talk to. What Chiba has is a black dog that is fully capable of human speech which, however, is represented by texts on a silent screen. You get used to it very quickly. Chiba talks normally to the dog.
There are a few other things. His touch withers plant and stuns humans into unconsciousness. He therefore often wears white gloves. This is also identification for his colleagues of whom we get to meet a few. He has never seen sunshine (which is not the case for his colleagues), for some reason. Yet another trait is Chiba's apparent inability to understand human emotions. This, coupled with some obvious communication problems, create comical situation that range from plain funny to subtly dark. But not understanding Japanese, I'm sure that quite a bit is lost in translation.
The movie is one of those three-story setups, but in three different time slots (past, present, future) three unrelated stories, at least initially. But the hints of the links are all there and I don't think it is the director's intention to craft convoluted twists. The focus is on the mood, the characters and how they interact with Chiba.
The first story is about a 27-year-old "OL" ("office lady" in Japan, sort of a "pink collar" worker) whose life has been a total failure. Every time she tosses a coin she always loses. There is a trace of romance here (to the extent that a Grim Reaper who has no human emotions is capable) but the main focus is how this girl grasps that one chance to go after what she really wants from life. For that, she is granted a reprieve the reason being that she has not yet fulfilled the objective of her life.
Refreshingly devoid of any repetition, symmetry or similarity is the second story about a mob boss facing a deadly showdown. But although the mob boss is the "client", it's his young protégé that is the true protagonist in this delightful grey (I wouldn't quite describe it as "black" not going far enough) comedy. The theme here is loyalty and betrayal. The ending is uplifting against all odds, the mob boss wins the shootout and bonds with the protégé. And there's a good twist in that although he is not killed in the shootout, Chiba takes him in he next day via a car accident, applying the same reasoning, but in the reverse direction his objective of life has been fulfilled.
The final story is futuristic, with humanoid robots that you can't even recognise as such. The robot is a maid to the protagonist, an old women who runs a barber shop in a quaint little house by the seaside. She recognizes Chiba right away for what he is and throws his favourite question what do you think about death? right back at him. She also has a strange request, for him to round up all the 7-year-old boys in town for a free hair cut at her shop. Everything eventually has an explanation, of course.
That's a general idea. The movie has not become one of the things it might have .thriller, suspense, mystery, Gothic. No, it is gently provoking, lightly teasing, casually amusing. It make no pretense of being profound but makes you think a little. The acting is all fine. The cinematography is pleasing. All in all, it's a movie that can be easily enjoyed.