Terumae romae

Whopping temerity abounds in Hideki Takeuchi's THERMAE ROMAE, an adaptation of Mari Yamazaki's massively popular eponymous manga series, which is parlayed into a gigantic box-office smash hit, Japan's second highest-grossing domestic film in 2012 and also spawns a sequel.

In this time-travel cock and bull story, an Ancient Roman architect Lucius Modestus (Abe) multiply stumbles upon present world in Japan through magic watery portals which the movie gives no explication whatsoever. Lucius takes his cue from mod cons to improve his design of Roman baths, which is pertinently yoked to the historical process of the Roman Empire under the reign of the peripatetic Emperor Hadrian (Ichimura), not only does Lucius' copied private bath console the emperor's loss of Antinous in 130, but his discovery of therapeutic hot springs is able to miraculously heal the wounds and dissipate the fatigue of jaded Roman warriors as well, which in turn, secures Antoninus (Shishido)'s standing as Hadrian's successor, to the chagrin of the obnoxious skirt-chaser Ceionius (Kitamura). It is all thanks to Japanese bathing culture, that human history doesn't go astray in the wrong hands, temerity, yes, but also innately droll....

read my full review on the blog: cinema omnivore

It's entertaining and funny. The scenes of Romans trying to copy jacuzzi made my laugh. I enjoyed it.

This movie was one of the Gala screenings at the 2012 Toronto Intl Film Festival. Unfortunately I did not manage to secure a ticket and also did not get to meet Abe-san who was there to greet fans before the show. Luckily it was one of the inflight movies on Air Canada on my way to HK, and I got to see it then. Normally on such a small screen, it would affect my enjoyment however for this particular movie, I was laughing a lot and must say one of the best comedies (with a bit of romance) I have ever seen!The music (opera) was perfect for the film, the cast especially Abe was excellent, as well as the entire production (the Rome set was impressive). If you want to have two hours of fun, this is THE movie to go to. You won't regret it :) ENJOY! I look forward to October 4 for its release in Hong Kong. You bet I want to see it again, this time on a big screen with big sound!

The main character Lucius is A bath Licensed designer in Roma. He is serious and considers Roman bath culture so his works aren't received. One day, he travels through time to the modern Japan for strange reason. In modern Japan, He sees a comic artist Mami and he is surprised at polishing Japanese bath culture. He goes back Roma and designs novel bath using Japanese idea. And he becomes famous licensed designer.

One of noticeable points is that casts have strong featured faces. The reason is to reproduce Roman. The tempo of story line and change scenes is good. Story runs at a blazing speed, which helps to complete this movie as comedy movie and to make the movie more funny.

We can watch this film with a light heart. If you want to spend useless and funny time, I recommend this movie. I laughed a lot and enjoy it.

"Thermae Romae" is a Comedy - Fantasy movie in which we watch a Roman architect transported to modern-day Japan where he learns a lot and gain reputation and money when he is going back home.

I enjoyed this movie because it had a simple but interesting plot that contained plenty of humorous scenes, something that elevated the movie. The interpretations of both Hiroshi Abe who played as Lucius and Aya Ueto who played as Mami were very good and their combination worked very well. In addition to this, the direction which was made by Hideki Takeuchi was also very good and he presented his main characters in a very clever way in order for the audience to relate to them and follow them along their story. All in all, I have to say that "Thermae Romae" is a nice comedy movie and I recommend everyone to watch it because I am sure you will laugh and you will have a great time.