絶望した！カイジは絶望した！

With my background as a trained anthropology student, it is not like me to make broad, sweeping generalizations about different cultures, whether in a positive or negative light. However...

Japanese movie theaters are absolutely and undeniably better than American movie theaters.

Well, that's that out of the way. The weekend was (or rather still is - I have tomorrow off) an excellent one. I've already discussed my new church in Omotesando in my previous entry, so this will be about the rest of the weekend. After school on Saturday (with the curriculum pushed back a full day due to the typhoon earlier in the week) I had a lazy-ish afternoon at home, finishing up new homework and relaxing. That evening, I went out to the Humax Ikebukuro Cinema 4 to see a movie that had just come out that day. The film was 'Kaiji', and was based on the anime of the same name. I had gotten hooked on the anime in my first year at Rice thanks to a fellow member of Jo Mai, Rice's anime club, and the news that there was going to be a live-action remake of it was very exciting news for me - further amplified by the fact that I could actually go and see the thing. I first became aware of its existence via a train advertisement - further solidifying my belief that I made the right choice in living on the Yamanote line.

So, as to the movie itself. First off, the Japanese theaters go out of their way to make seeing a movie more than just sitting for two hours and leaving it at that. Instead, the experience of seeing a movie in Japan is closer to that of seeing a live theater show in the States. To begin with, there are no pre-screening advertisements or gimmicky little plugs for TV stations. It is a blank screen, and the music being piped in consisted of the themes from both the Kaiji anime and the new movie. The movie theaters are squeaky-clean, too. No sticky floors or weird smells to be discovered. Once the lights dimmed, there was one reminder about turning phones off, one trailer, and then the movie was rolling; not to mention the fact that the screening started at eight o'clock on the dot. Afterward, there was a small shop off to the side selling merchandise from the movie, including programs [read: playbills] and CDs of the soundtrack (exceptional in and of itself), in addition to many other fun little trinkets and such.

The movie itself did great justice to the series, particularly in the casting. Every role was true to the show, well acted, and very believable despite the far-fetched storyline. Some of the fun little quirks from the show were even replicated with great skill. Of course, some creative license and trimming took place due to the different resources of a live-action movie. The plot remains virtually the same, but one of the main characters, Endo - a loan shark, is played by a woman, whereas Endo was a male in the original series. This causes a small change to the movie's ending, and Endo has a much more significant part in the whole story, but it doesn't diminish from the movie at all - in fact, it actually changes the end of the story in what is still an appropriate fashion for the story as a whole. I won't divulge the whole plot in order to allow any with prospective interest in the series to enjoy it for themselves. Otherwise, you can wiki it and find out what happens for yourself.

Naturally, the movie was presented entirely in Japanese with no subtitles. While this might be considered a handicap for some, I actually enjoyed it all the more - seeing it in its natural presentation. Of course, it helped that I knew the gist of the story and had some degree of Japanese in my head. What this did for me more than anything else, though, was allow me to separate the plot of the movie from its production value a little bit more cleanly than when I watch one where I can understand 100% of the dialogue. As a result, I really noticed things like the use of music, the cinematography, and all of the small subtleties in the movie that can be overlooked due to absorption with the plot. I was very impressed. The director, Toya Sato, is incredibly gifted as a moviemaker. His direction and use of unusual camera angles and shots is of a caliber that I have rarely seen. I'm going to have to check out some of his other movies to see more of the magic he works.

Furthermore, I was able to better appreciate the ability of the actors to convey the story of Kaiji through methods other that dialogue. Everything from facial expression and body language onward suddenly became much more of a factor for my experience of the movie. The cast did not let me down. Not only did they reflect their characters from the original series, but each of them gave his or her new depth and substance. The lead, Tastuya Fujiwara (playing the title role), had already made a fan out of me after an exemplary performance as Light Yagami in the Death Note movies. The fact of the matter is that anime characters are generally very difficult to play in a live action setting without looking like a total spaz. Fujiwara has found the delicate balance between the energies and caricature of an average anime character and the limitations and reality of an actual human being. He maintains that balance throughout the movie and puts on a very praiseworthy performance. The character of Kaiji is definitely not an easy role to play - you'll see the many reasons why if you investigate the series, but Tatsuya Fujiwara carries it naturally - as do the rest of the cast.

In short: great movie, perfect cast, exceptional production value. Win.