Today, I would like to share with you a brain-opening and laughing latest island comedy - "Not in Memory".
As you can see from the poster, the film lineup is extremely strong.
Director and screenwriter Yuki Mitani is a famous Japanese screenwriter, whose representative works "Gentleman Criminal Police", "University of Laughter" and "Radio Time" are all divine works with a Douban score of 8.5+;
Male lead Actor Takaichi Nakai, who has been nominated for the Japan Academy Awards eight times and is known as the "Japanese Oscar", is an old drama bone with superb acting skills;
The supporting characters are also familiar actors such as Indigo Fujioka, Hiroshi Sato, and Kano Kimura, and it can be said that this film is a commemorative work for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Fuji Tv.
After the film was released in Japan last year, the response was indeed very good, and it won more than 3.6 billion yen at the box office, ranking ninth in the 2019 Japanese domestic box office list.
Friends who are familiar with Yuki Mitani's works know that he prefers dramatic stories in a single space.
For example, "The Top Sky Hotel" is about the collision of a group of people in a five-star hotel in the two hours before the arrival of the New Year;
For example, "Big Airport 2013" tells the story of a family stranded at the airport due to plane delays.
Although there are many character clues in these works, the narrative is not messy at all, each character has a distinct personality, and the story is also told in twists and turns.
It can be said that as a director, Yuki Mitani is very good at shooting group portrait scenes.
But in the "Not In Memory" we talked about today, he gave up the multi-line narrative he was good at and concentrated on telling the story of the male protagonist, Keisuke Kuroda.
Kuroda is known as the worst prime minister of all time, with a support rating of just 2.3 percent.
In a public speech, he was stoned in public by the public.
As a result, he hit his head and woke up from a hospital bed with no memory and completely forgetting who he was.
To avoid political unrest, Kuroda's secretaries urgently blocked the news of the prime minister's amnesia.
At the same time, Kuroda, who has lost his memory, must also adapt to this "strange new identity" as soon as possible with the help of his secretaries.
But to make a bronze quickly become a king, think about how difficult it will be.
What's more, the former Kuroda himself was not a qualified king.
At work, he is a pit daddy prime minister whose "evil deeds" are difficult to describe-
At first, when he ran out of the hospital and asked passers-by if they knew him, passers-by complained to him that they couldn't save money because he had set the consumption tax too high!
Back home, he wasn't a good husband either.
His wife Satoko was very cold to him, and Kuroda wanted to go forward and hug Satoko, but the other party fled like an electric shock.
It turned out that the marriage of these two people had actually died in name only.
Kuroda cheats on a female councilor, and Satoko cheats on Kuroda's secretary, Izaka, and Kuroda himself knows before the amnesia.
In such a family environment, his son Tokuhiko is also very cold and ignores him.
It can be said that if it were not for the position of prime minister, Kuroda would be a proper middle-aged Loser.
Not only that, but under the reminder of his secretary, he learned all kinds of absurd things he had done.
For example, it is required to build a bathhouse in the council chamber, take an official car to the SM club, and even force the deputies to vote to pass the bill.
So when Kuroda kindly picked up a reporter at the press conference the next day, it immediately sparked a heated discussion among the people — everyone said that he must have wanted to increase his approval rating to do something.
Faced with the mess he left behind, Kuroda, who was under great pressure, once wanted to take advantage of the amnesia to pick a son and leave.
But the secretary's words woke him up again: From another point of view, doesn't amnesia mean that you can start over? Even if you don't know anything about politics, it's not too late to start learning.
So Kuroda decided to start changing himself and turning this bad hand into a world-class card!
First of all, he sent someone to find the citizens who threw stones at him and thanked him;
Then he personally went to the female parliamentarian and expressed his intention to end the extramarital affair in person;
He then approached his elementary school teacher, who specialized in social studies, to teach himself what politics was.
In his free time after work, Kuroda stopped messing around at sm clubs and called his wife and son to dinner together.
These initiatives may seem fruitful, but they have only changed Kuroda's personal life.
In order to truly change the style of Japanese politics, he must not only learn the way of being an official, but also pull Tsurumaru, the chief cabinet minister who holds great power, into the water.
Tsurumaru is the central figure in Japan's cabinet, and he has been able to stand firm five times in the past decade. It is very dangerous to be an enemy of him, and if you are not careful, you will ruin your political career.
The President of the United States will soon be visiting, can kuroda, who has lost his memory, really be ready in such a short period of time?
As a political comedy, "Not In Memory" re-explores more possibilities of life and politics through the amnesia of a prime minister.
In addition to the all-star lineup, the catching of horses and the clarity of the laughter point of its plot are also the main points that attract the audience.
Mitani also confessed that he did not want to criticize anything, and the inspiration for the whole movie actually came from his fantasy in high school: If one day I am suddenly appointed prime minister, what will I do?
Therefore, the film can actually be seen as a cool article of "an ordinary person reborn as prime minister overnight", and even the audience who is completely indifferent to politics can get pleasure from it.
At the end of the film, Kuroda not only changes Japan's diplomacy with his humble attitude, but also seizes Tsurumaru's handle, forcing him to resign.
In terms of personal life, Kuroda also saved the hearts of Satoko and Tukhiko with a sincere attitude, and did not blame the talented Secretary Isaka.
Although this ending is somewhat idealistic, it is also a good ending for a comedy.
Overall, although the film is filled with a smell of chicken soup, it is not as strong as the drama of Mitani's previous works, but the right laughs and the performance of the fairy lineup make it a film that is very suitable for decompression and relaxation.
And the encounter of Kuroda in the film is also very worthy of our deep consideration - are we also too heavy because of the burden of the past, forced by face or dignity, or afraid of the eyes of others, it is difficult to make changes?
People often say that "the country is easy to change, the nature is difficult to move", so that a person can change his personality and habits, which is not an easy task in itself.
What's more, some people still have an attitude of breaking the jar and breaking the can: it is already like this, then it does not matter.
But this is actually a very negative attitude towards life. Think about it, if life could be repeated, would you still choose to live such a life as you are now?
For Kuroda in the film, the loss of memory allows him to be freed from all constraints.
At the end of the film, he has regained his memory, but he has not changed back to the bad prime minister he once was, because he wants to firmly grasp this "chance of rebirth".
In fact, for us, the opportunity to be "born again" has always been there. Although life is short, it is not too late to make changes at any time, and I am afraid that I do not have the idea and courage to take that step.
As Kuroda said, no matter how clear the water is, if it stops flowing, it will one day become a pool of stagnant water.