Author: Zhuge Jianguo
Affected by the epidemic, the movie "JP: Princess Chapter", which was scheduled to be released in early May this year, was postponed. Earlier, due to the scandal of the derailment of Changda Higashiide, the third film in the "Trick the World JP" series was temporarily shelved in the shooting schedule originally scheduled for the autumn. This series of movies derived from the series of the same name is currently only available for viewing, "JP: Romance".
The "Trick the World JP" series tells the story of Tatsuko (Masami Nagasawa), a credit fraudster with a genius brain, and his accomplices Komaki (Masadai Higashiide) and Richard (Fumiyoshi Koichi), using various incredible means to defraud huge sums of money. In "Romance", the three set their sights on a new target — Hong Kong consortium tycoon Liu Lan (Yuko Takeuchi), who has the title of "Ice Ji", and the priceless purple diamond in her hand.
Poster of JP: Romance
Ostensibly, this is a money scam in which two groups of scammers are involved. On this side, Tatsuko and her newly acquired apprentice Monako (Oda Isha) pretend to be fortune tellers in an attempt to gain the trust of the superstitious Liu Lan; on the other hand, love fraudster Jesse (Haruma Miura) takes advantage of Liu Lan's hurt experience in her relationship, hoping to impress her with her true feelings. Coincidentally, Jesse and Dazi were once a couple, because Liu Lan was suspicious and cautious in choosing to cooperate, and in the process the two seemed to have signs of a resurgence of old love.
In fact, this is a revenge bureau of "scumbags still need to be collected by scammers". Tatsuko's "kitten" (a subordinate swindler who cooperates with the fraudster's actions) Suzuki (Atsuko Maeda) is devastated by Jesse's deception, and Komaki hears from his peers that Eisuke Akashi (Yosuke Eguchi), a gangster who has been deceived by Tatsuko, hires Jesse to get revenge on them. So Dazi set up an unexpected middle game, killing three eagles with one stone, borrowing Liu Lan's east wind, playing Jesse who cheated money and deception, and at the same time, he earned a large amount of money from Red Star. There is also a shocking reversal at the end of the film, that is, the true identity of the top fraudster "star", which will not be repeated here, leaving a little mystery for interested audiences.
Overall, "Romance" sets up more complex fraud methods on the basis of continuing the expression style of the drama version. The all-star cast, dense laughter, and tight story arrangement can take good care of the viewing experience of first-time contacts; and for fans who are already familiar with the law of "Tatsuko is the final winner", the small Easter eggs that appear in many places in the film and connect with the drama version are not sparing as unexpected surprises.
Yuko Takeuchi plays Liu Lan
Of course, the subject of fraud has a birth defect that cannot be avoided: legal and moral contradictions. No matter how justified, fraud is always a crime. Therefore, the "Deception of the World" series first defines the deceived person as a rich person who has a heart for profit and oppresses the bottom, catering to the audience's simple perception of justice, and then sets up a zealous and helpful character Komaki to blur the boundary between justice and evil. In this way, the victory of the three Dazi seems to have turned into a deceptive psychological compensation: the reality is so unfair, what is wrong with the "black eating black" revenge on the evildoers in the film and television drama?
Under this big framework, the story only needs to be logical and self-consistent. Even if there are all kinds of coincidences that cannot withstand scrutiny, you can first obscure the past, and then explain the reason with a slight reversal of the protagonist's aura at the end. The setting, though, is a double-edged sword: if you think about Agatha's serious reasoning, you're probably disappointed by the slightly childish tricks.
Specific to "Romance", a premise that can hit the audience's cool point is added: playing with love is more shameful than cheating people out of money. It may seem like a perverse reason, but it is less abrupt after the screenwriter deliberately amplifies Jesse's evil and lays the groundwork for Tatsuko to help Suzuki out of the shadows.
Tatsuko and Jesse
Oscar Wilde said: "Love begins with self-deception and ends with deceiving others." This is called romance. "Romance" follows this logic, combining the two elements of "love" and "deception", and the deconstruction of jokes can be seen everywhere in the film. For example, the purple diamond, which is supposed to symbolize "true love", only appears as McGuffin, and after the story unfolds, it is no longer important, and there is a flash of fake scenes. For example, after the scam ends, there are a bunch of questions: Is there only a mutual routine between Tatsuko and Jesse? How much truth does Komaki's confession in a critical moment have? Is Red Star gritting his teeth so much just out of hate? Seeing is not necessarily true, the devil may be behind love, and the world of credit fraudsters cannot distinguish between true and false.
If you project the plot of the movie into real life, the irony is even stronger. How much deception did Higashi Izumi Changda, who is an "honest man" inside and outside the play, cheat in the process of betraying his wife Apricot and minor extramarital affairs? A public apology can't even squeeze out a drop of "crocodile tears", which is a huge contrast with the characters in the movie who walk between simplicity and cunning. The collapse of the real human set also makes the role of "Komaki", who has spread the emotional line with Tatsuko, become extremely awkward.
Although "Romance" uses exaggerated comedy techniques to talk about "the love of destiny", both the creator and the audience know that the love in reality is much more complicated and bitter after all. So at the end of the story, Tatsuko sighed, "Love is always a game of deception or being deceived, and the sweet words that make people feel like they are all lies." Even so, people still crave love, as if it were a mystery that can never be solved, a labyrinth with no end, an invisible truth. Perhaps, this is the real romance. (Zhuge Jianguo)