Because of the film’s title, I was expecting something based around the “Ore, ore” (“It’s me, it’s me”) telephone scam. And at first, that’s how it appears. The hero of the film, Nagano Hitoshi, picks up someone else’s mobile phone and convinces the owner’s mother to send him 900,000 yen.
So far, so ordinary. Apart from the occasional familiar face (Fuse Eri makes an early appearance) and bit of physical comedy, it’s all shot in quite a flat style. This means that when strange things start to happen, they sort of drift past. I thought “Shouldn’t this be signposted more overtly? Like a double-take or a quick zoom-in with startling music?” but nothing like that happened.
As Hitoshi keeps meeting more and more versions of himself, the film remains on an even keel: measured, patient, apparently in no hurry to increase the tension or weirdness.
Eventually, the tension does increase as Hitoshi realises his life is at stake, but it never dips into outright weirdness. It’s shot like a typical film, except that by the end the lead actor (Kamenashi Kazuya) is playing every part.
Kazuya is very good, especially in the three lead roles that make up the bulk of the story: each character is distinct and complete. The filming, too, is very clever, getting the various Hitoshis to interact quite naturally. There’s nothing wrong with this film, but I’m still not sure what to make of it. It’s Satoshi Miki’s weirdest film and also his most ordinary. That, in itself, is pretty remarkable.
The only part I liked about this was Eri Fuse doing the Hadoken. She's also one of the only things that makes me laugh in the Interviewer jdrama, which still I haven't finished.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that scene near the start is strange. It's like the only bit that's from a typical Satoshi Miki film. The rest isn't played for laughs at all. Well, not much, anyway.
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