Film Reel: 大日本人 Dai Nipponjin

大日本人 Dai Nipponjin

Ah, it's been a while since I've laughed this hard in a movie but 大日本人is one heck of a comedy (although classifying it as a comedy would do it no justice)! The film is called Dai Nipponjin (trans: "Big Japanese Man") in English and if you are in Toronto, it will be there for the film festival, so be sure to catch it! It is directed by a well-known Japanese comedian by the name of Matsumoto Hitoshi (he spells it Matumoto Hitosi in the credits... this is out of Japanese pronunciation order, but it is understandable in the romanisation of Japanese).

I am not planning to give anything away - I went in there without reading any synopsis of the movie and found myself pleasantly surprised. It is in that manner that I won't divulge any storyline details at all, save to say that I am likely watching it again when it officially hits cinemas in Hong Kong some time in the near future.

The movie itself may require some sensitivity to Japanese culture to fully grasp its implications but a closer look will unveil plenty of social, political and historical messages buried within its outrageous over-the-top content. If you are simply looking for a good laugh though - well, fear not, this movie has got that covered as well with plenty of hilarious scenarios and jokes.

I have to admit that I am left with only high praises for this movie (the people at Cannes seemed quite impressed with it as well actually) - don't miss Dai Nipponjin, it's a fun-filled, thought-provoking movie that relevantly captures the state of the world today in an unpretentiously eccentric fashion.