The 17th Japanese Film Festival in Australia is now showing in Melbourne, the last major city on its national tour before wrapping up for the year. Eden Law (Fukushima JET 2010-2011, current member of JETAA NSW reviews some of the films on offer.
Will the real Hitoshi please stand up, please stand up?
This is film messed with my head. Escalating from a quirky, comedy of errors with eccentric characters to a disturbing, confusing movie where you feel like the character Hitoshi himself, running around wild-eyed in panic as you try to make sense of what’s going on – not that the film gives you any concrete answers.
But let’s start with a bit of a background. Hitoshi (Kazuya Kamenashi), a failed photographer, makes a living working in an electronics department, with fellow employees who are probably a little bit insane. Then one day, a stranger’s phone falls into his hands, and on impulse, Hitoshi takes the phone and scams the owner’s mother into depositing 900,000 yen into his bank account. And then that’s when shit gets weird.
The title “It’s Me, It’s Me” comes from the fact Hitoshi starts finding copies of himself popping up, each with his face but different name, different lifestyles – even of the opposite gender. It’s almost like seeing versions of himself – Kamenashi doesn’t just wear different wigs or clothes, or act differently; his face gets superimposed on wildly different body types like that scene from Being John Malkovich. Does each copy represent a possibility or alternate reality that could have been, had circumstances being different, or a choice decided in another way? Which is the real Hitoshi? Was there ever a real Hitoshi? I really don’t know – you tell me. At first finding other “me”s is fun – it’s like finding someone who truly understands you – but the initial novelty and fun of first discovery soon gives way to darker developments, as the initial group of Hitoshis realise that not every aspect of their personality is pleasant, or even desirable. Out of place objects then begin to appear in some scenes, such as overturned drums of strange viscous pink liquid crop up and disappear, posters of a pair of eyes stuck on walls appear to watch Hitoshi and his strange adventures – Miki’s mischievous and anarchic humour teases us as they appear and disappear in the film, like visual signposts of the upcoming weirdness that is about to unleash.
But in the meantime, we are distracted by the anarchic humour and fun by the assortment of characters and dialogue. Minor characters are invested with a huge amount of personality and energy, like Hitoshi’s original mum, Masae (Midoriko Kimura) who insists on being called by her name instead of “mother” because she decided it suits her more; his co-workers like the hyperactive Minami (Eri Fuse) and overbearing dorky manager Tajime (Ryo Kase) and sexy customer Sayaka (Yuki Uchida). Kamenashi juggles a huge amount of roles, portraying different minor characters who seem to be different kind of Japanese stereotypes, definitely working hard for his money.
You might find “Ore Ore” infuriating or intriguing, but it is a wild ride, throwing up all sorts of puzzling questions and frustrating vague hints as to the possible answers.
It’s Me, It’s Me (Ore Ore) by Satoshi Miki, released May 25th 2013 in Japan. Starring Kazuya Kamenashi, Yuki Uchida, Ryo Kase, Midoriko Kimura, Keiko Takahashi, Eri Fuse, Ryu Nakatani and Kinako Kobayashi.
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