O Homem que Roubou o Sol

The best thing that can be said about The Man Who Stole The Sun is that it runs for 2.5 hours and never feels boring or overlong. The worst thing that can be said about it is there's a couple of time where it looks like they were mean to a cat while filming, which is never nice (it's thankfully briefer and less difficult to handle than an infamous scene in Satantango).

It follows a teacher who decides to build an atomic bomb, and then makes a series of demands by threatening to detonate it. It begins as a satirical crime movie, gradually morphs into a thriller, and then explodes into action in the last half-hour or so. Along the way, it can be pretty funny at times, having a tone where calling it light or non-serious would maybe feel inaccurate, but it's definitely fun (while being kind of dark, once you step back and look at the whole thing).

All in all, it's a riot. It's rare to get a movie that's around (or over) two and a half hours where I don't ever feel ready for it to end, which I think is a testament to how well-paced and creative this is, above all else just being very entertaining. As much as I'm looking forward to Oppenheimer, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the best movie about atomic weapons that I watch in 2023.

A highschool science teacher decides to make an atomic bomb in his apartment. The opening half hour of this movie is erratic, making it difficult to predict where the story is going or what will ultimately happen. A nice blend of dark thrills and black humor is what makes this one special. It juxtaposes tonal shifts in convincing fashion. The protagonist is an unorthodox mad scientist who is very likable and charismatic. There are some very interesting sequences in this, like the lengthy plutonium experiments and bomb construction. Most of the film is realistic but even the more wildly, intentionally unrealistic moments are entertaining in their craziness. There are also some subtleties that one will miss if they are not paying close attention. Performances are great and the ending is ballsy.

Some of the criticisms that I've read for this film have annoyed me. It's like most of the negative reviews are coming from people who are demanding that every element of the film be easily categorized into tiny little boxes of familiarity and traditional filmmaking styles. Take the protagonist's philosophy as one example. We get a very good feel for his character throughout the film. He's an unhinged yet likable science teacher, but according to some critics he's apparently not "properly developed" because he doesn't come out and tell everyone exactly why he made the bomb. Well, why does he need a reason anyway? I thought one of the points of the film was that he didn't know what to do with the bomb after he made it. He even asks the radio DJ to poll her listeners so he can get some ideas! Come on, people. Did you really want him to make a long-winded nationalistic or philosophical speech at the end? I'm glad he didn't. In fact, I find it thought-provoking and refreshing that I have difficulty identifying exactly why he did it. And guess what? That was probably the WHOLE POINT OF THE MOVIE!

Another ridiculous criticism is one of those oft-parroted dumb ones that I'll never understand. Due to the black humor and unrealistic moments, there are tonal shifts throughout. Of course, viewers who need their movies carbon-copied in Hollywood fashion will have a problem with this because "the movie doesn't know what it wants to be." Yeesh! Okay, do you really want every movie to be easily categorized as a "comedy" or a "drama" or a "thriller"? Do you really want every movie to be easily categorized as "realistic" or "unrealistic"? Sure, let's just eliminate genre-benders all together and we'll be left with a bunch of boring, predictable films. But at least we can feel good about ourselves because then we can properly categorize them into tiny little boxes. Listen people, the tonal shifts are one reason this film is fun to watch. The same is true with the wild shifts between realism and unrealism. The final half-hour (that everyone complains about) gave me more surprises than the last three dozen "single genre" films I've seen recently.

This film refuses to limit itself, and that's why it's so entertaining and impressive.

Kazuhiko Hasegawa is a great film director.

Though I have been an enthusiastic fan of Kazuhiko Hasegawa's, in the beginning I've had no connection with him, and moreover, I am an ordinary office worker. One day I heard a sad news, "Kubrick is dead", which made me decide to establish Kazuhiko-Hasegawa's website. That's because I believe it is only Hasegawa that can make films like Kubrick's works. After a while, I got a connection with him through the cyberspace, and exchanged opinions each other with e-mails, which we called "e-sessions". One day I suddenly received his phone call. He just said to me, "I want to begin my project on your site"........ Thus I have built up the website to let people submit their scenarios for his new film.

A high school science teacher steals plutonium and builds his own atomic bomb. A game of cat and mouse arises between him and a hard-nosed police detective.

Utterly preposterous stuff, but has moments of great fun, and an unusual East-meets-West sensibility, presumably because of being made entirely in Japan by Japanese folks but written by Paul Schrader's brother Leonard, who inserted some peak-1979-Hollywood car chases and action scenes.

It's not a great film, but it's got a lot going for it, and if you like strange Japanese films you should definitely check it out, as it's hard to think of anything else quite like it.

6½/10.

The Man Who Stole the Sun treads the finest of lines in trying to balance its subject matter and tone, but Kazuhiko Hasegawa's controversial movie about nuclear terrorism is a darkly comedic and thrilling satire on a subject once considered unsatiriseable annihilating any form of genre borders in the process. Holding particular resonance for Japanese audiences, as while the country does use nuclear power, it has long held against amassing a nuclear arsenal due to the devastating effects that ended World War II. The movie doesn't stop dead for any form of long-winded nationalistic or philosophical speeches and instead insists on a conceivable reality with seemingly no motivation.

One of only two movies directed by Kazuhiko Hasegawa, which in turn feels like a crime in itself, Hasegawa rewards the viewer with some utterly sublime direction and excellent framing, with plenty of thrilling action set pieces to command his viewer's attention at all times (the car chase feels like it was ripped right out of a Ringo Lam movie). It balances the unorthodox nature and tone of the movie exceptionally well, juxtaposing the shifts with unnatural ease. Complimented by funky and often ill-fitting music by Takayuki Inoue to glorious success.

The performances are all excellent, with Kenji Sawada playing the everyman gone rogue with an endless amount of animosity slowly succumbing to the effects of radiation poisoning making him more and more unpredictable as the movie goes on. But it's the award-winning performance from the stoic and hardened Bunta Sugawara that really captivates me as he normally does in his roles, single-minded and exceptionally driven.

Overall, The Man Who Stole the Sun, even at two and a half hours long, never feels overly long or bloated. The film absolutely refuses to limit itself, and that's why it's so entertaining and impressive.