Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

"Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" in English. This account of a live radio drama gone awry has universal appeal, while also poking fun at contemporary Japanese culture. There are some wonderfully frantic comic scenes in it. Everything that can go wrong with a young writer's first drama script happens, which is how a love story about a Japanese girl saved by a fisherman turns into the tale of a Chicago trial lawyer rescued by an astronaut who's subsequently lost in space, etc. I give it eight ho's out of ten.

Are one of those people who believes that Japan can only make movies about the Yakuza, or such topics? Then look no further than "Rajio no jikan" (called "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" in English)! A radio station in Tokyo is broadcasting a love story. It goes smoothly at first, but then they keep rewriting it. From there, their broadcast gets progressively crazier and crazier.

Boy! How they came up with that stuff is beyond me, but they did it. The English title comes from...well, I don't want to spoil that scene. The point is that you gotta see this movie if you can find it anywhere. It hearkens back to movies like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming", with the way that something seemingly small branches out into total lunacy. Absolutely hilarious.

"Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" is funny, sweet, surprising, and laugh out loud funny. Character development is marvelous. The plot twists and turns in a delightful manner. Fast paced, yet connected. The characters are so well developed, it might well be better the second time around. The strength of the film is related to it's insightful view of how a group of individuals interact when time is precious. The film itself is a precious gem. The presentation is fresh, clear, and funny without attention to the "cute factor". I could certainly be labeled a "screwball comedy", but is much more than that. It is sensitive, it is gentle, it is so real.Grab the popcorn and your favorite squeeze, and have a ball.

Imagine being a desperate house-wife in Japan falling in love with a man who doesn't have a clue that you are in love with him. So how do you transmit your feelings as a women in modern day suppressed Japan? Your solution: writing a radioplay mentioning your feelings and love for him. You are in luck because a radio-station is willing to broadcast your play. Mission accomplished? During the course of the broadcast of your play, one of the radio-actors has the bright idea that he has to improvise on his role. Outcome: the whole story has to be rewritten at will by the actors, director, producers, sponsors of the show...because of the continuity. Are you going to defend your script at all costs? I had a great night at the radiostation. The actors are wonderful and hilarious. The direction is first class. A must see movie for everyone who loves world cinema and is looking for a different kind of movie than normal US fare.

A brilliant comedy from Japan about a radio station going live with an original drama written by Miyako, a housewife, who entered a contest the station gave. She is played superbly by the plainly dressed but pretty Kyoko Suzuki. From the beginning, the madness starts. Her screenplay keeps getting tweaked to the point where it is unrecognizable and the last second script changes keep the tension up. Throughout, the characters are so rich: The temperamental actress Nokko (Keiko Toda), the too appeasing producer, the opinionated engineer, the suffering manager of Nokko, Miyako's husband who thinks the screenplay is about him, and so on. Its screwball comedy at its best, frantic, unrelenting and, at times, hilarious. I would not usually give a 10 to a movie such as this, but this one not only keeps your interest, it gets better and better. Even Ken Wattanabe is here, playing a trucker who, while driving his big rig, tunes into the melodrama and is moved by it all. Writer/Director Koki Mitani does a superb job of keeping the pacing perfect in this film. You have to see it, it is really terrific.