Tenten

This is basically a bonding film with two guys, where they build a relationship by going from point A to point B. And for the most part it's a fascinating and intriguing journey that has a lot of reference to Japanese culture and entertainment. The plot revolves around a guy that is in debt and gets in trouble with the debt collector. Later the debt collector gives him a solution to the problem, by going on a walk with him to a specific destination he would give him a lot of money. The main reason that interested me on the journey was the question why the debt collector would choose that man to go on a walk with him. I really liked the style and direction of this movie, especially with it's awkward scenarios and awkward humor in this. It pretty much was a engaging movie all the way through, mainly because of the direction of it all. To anyone who enjoys watching Japanese style and humor while going from point A to point B without it being dull, should check this movie out.

8/10

Watched this movie, a comedy, with my wife on AsianCrush last night. We both really enjoyed it! The film's premise is quite odd -- a loanshark named Fukuhara offers to forgive the debt of a young man (named Fumira), if Fumira simply walks across Tokyo with him. Why is Fumira in debt, in the first place? It's never explained, and it doesn't matter. A lot in this movie is never quite explained, it just sort of happens. Just when you think you have a bead on where the story might be going (for example, did Fukuhara REALLY kill his wife, as he says?) -- a bizarre character or plot twist appears. You get the sense that maybe the director was trying to make a Japanese version of "Amelie", and it almost works. There are some items in the movie that don't quite fit, or miss their mark (Fukuhara has ominous coughing fits in the first half of the movie, but they disappear completely in the second half).... but overall, the movie is never boring or slow, and the main characters seem to have genuine chemistry between them.

"In my 8th college year, buying 3-color toothpaste I thought could spare me from my rock bottom situation." Those are the first words of the film as spoken by Fumiya (Jô Odagiri) just before debt collector Fukuhara (Tomokazu Miura) bursts into his apartment, removing his shoes at the front door as is Japanese custom, and roughs him up. The next day the debt collector offers Fumiya an opportunity to erase his debt: walk with him around Tokyo. What we get is a road movie, a very funny road movie, where the unlikely duo walk instead of drive. There's eventual male bonding, marvelous footage of Tokyo, and a smörgåsbord of odd characters and situations along the way.

Writer/Director Satoshi Miki has a stable of comedic actors who work with him often and who fill out this film playing the side characters. They remind me of the North American group that came out of Second City Television we now associate with Christopher Guest movies. They share that sense of humor too, where each of the characters seem to exist in their own orbit but since they all do, they get along fine. Dialog is somewhere between non sequiturs and honest answers when you don't anticipate them. And it's all about timing and delivery. Funny people.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the hairstyles of the two main characters. Jô Odagiri, famous Average Joe Japanese actor, sports a Dylanesque-fro, while famous Big Bad Guy actor Tomokazu Miura's cut seems to suffer from some sort of mullet imbalance. They're an odd pair perfectly suited to this low-key oddball comedy.

A thrill for me is the appearance of Yuriko Yoshitaka as Fufumi, the niece of the debt collector's fake wife. She co-starred, at age seventeen, in one of my favorite films of all time, Noriko's Dinner Table, as the younger sister, Yuka. While that Sion Sono film was no where near a comedy, Yuriko Yoshitaka's character possessed a bit of the same surreal comportment that works for her in this film. She's tasked here with playing a loud, extremely happy, self-orientor who likes to put mayonnaise on everything, and pulls it off without being overly obnoxious. Your mileage may vary but I think she's got a bright future. She seems comfortable acting.

It was just a simple walk in Tokyo. But somehow it was funny, quirky and touching. You never know who you will meet in your life. Some meetings, even though short, just bring magic to your life.

Does it make sense to say that a movie is predictably unpredictable? And is that a bad thing?

This is one of those movies where for some reason two guys who don't know each other go on a journey, usually against the will of one or both. In this movie, a middle aged torpedo bribes a college kid to follow him around Tokyo. Fukuhara has decided to turn himself into the police, and wants to wander the streets of his town one last time before he goes to prison. He meets hapless college kid Fumiya when he's sent to collect some debt of his. Fukuhara offers to give Fumiya the money he sorely needs in exchange for company. This all happens early, and the majority of the movie is following their walkabout.

They walk through several parts of Tokyo while embarking on random quests born out of their conversations and random curiousness. They meet a bunch of characters on their way, and their journey is filled with weird and silly situations. They go on detours, try new food, get in a fight, and for a stretch they have to pretend to be father and son. There is a lot of humor to be found, but also a good heart, and by the end Fukuhara and Fumiya are much closer to each other than they even realize. The city itself supplies a lot of charm as they move through a few of its many wards, and you really get a sense of the diversity of such a huge metropolis.

The movie progresses like you'd expect an unlikely-buddy/journey movie to. You've probably seen the "first they don't know/like each other much and 'the other guy' has weird habits but hey they've found common ground and now they're friends" thing a dozen times, but as always with movies, it's all in the delivery. The laughs are frequent and come from the weirdest places, and the way the guys bond in this is deeper and more complex than your average (american) movie, which makes it more poignant.

Perhaps my love of silliness and randomness, and my limited knowledge of Japanese culture and filmmaking makes Tenten a funnier, more unpredictable experience to me, but I'd wager anyone who sees this will find something to enjoy.