マインド・ゲーム

MIND GAME

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
MANGA
RELEASE
August 7, 2004
LENGTH
104 min

DESCRIPTION

Audiences will begin to grasp what they are in for early on, as loser Nishi, too wimpy to try to save his childhood sweetheart from gangsters, is shot in the butt by a soccer-playing psychopath, projecting Nishi into the afterlife. In this limbo, God - shown as a series of rapidly changing characters - tells him to walk toward the light. But Nishi runs like hell in the other direction and returns to Earth a changed man, driven to live each moment to the fullest.

(Source: Shout! Factory)

CAST

Nishi
Koji Imada
Myon
Sayaka Maeda
Jii-san
Takashi Fujii
Yan
Seiko Takuma
Yakuza
Rintarou Nishi
Boss
Jouji Shimaki
Ryou
Tomomitsu Yamaguchi
Atsu
Kenichi Chuujou
Chichi
Toshio Sakata

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MANGA ActionMind Game

REVIEWS

TheAnimeBingeWatcher
30/100
I have no clue what this is even supposed to be, man.
And thus begins my journey into the filmography of one last acclaimed anime director: Masaaki Yuasa. I’m familiar with Yuasa’s work from Devilman Crybaby, The Tatami Galaxy, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, so I already know he’s the real deal. His stories are among the most visually imaginative, densely layered, and effortlessly rewarding anime on the market, bursting with his uniquely sloppy animation style and a visceral understanding of what makes people tick in their best and worst moments alike. That said, he’s also responsible for Japan Sinks, which I’ve admittedly softened on a bit over the past year but was still a catastrophic misfire on pretty much every front. So he’s clearly not an unimpeachable talent. He can make mistakes and put out bad results, same as everyone. So it’s a damn good thing I was already familiar with his work before checking out Mind Game, his debut film from all the way back in 2004. Because if this had been my introduction to Yuasa, I would have been tempted to steer clear of everything else he’s ever done.

Mind Game is a hard movie to summarize, because it’s one of those surreal art-house affairs where imagery and Big Ideas take precedence over basic coherency. It jumps between at least three different genres and tones, haphazardly pulling all sorts of disconnected tropes out of its ass and discarding them the moment it’s finished with them. Things start off like a romantic drama; wimpy college kid Kishi reconnects with his childhood crush Myon who’s getting married to a hot stud, and we spend like ten minutes just watching them talk and hash out their life stories in the bar run by Myon’s older sister. Then a couple Yakuza toughies break down the door for some reason I’m still not entirely sure of; I think Myon’s father cheated them out of world cup tickets or something? Anyway, one of the yaks tries to rape Myon but gets distracted and kills Kishi instead, at which point Kishi goes to the afterlife meets God- yes, actually God- represented by a series of rapidly changing characters from people to fish. God tells him his time is up, but Kishi doesn’t want to die such a pathetic death, so he literally escapes the afterlife and comes back to life right before he dies, at which point he steals the attacker’s gun with his buttcheeks and uses it to kill him instead, resolving to live a full, passionate life from now on. And that’s the last we see of God for the entire movie; we never visit him or the afterlife ever again, and it’s barely even brought up.

Anyway, after... that happens, Kishi pulls Myon and her sister into the yakuzas’ car and makes a getaway, at which point Mind Game becomes a high-octane Fast and Furious car chase with the yakuza’s partners trying to run them off the road. All the laws of physics and reality are broken as they make their mad escape, dodging other cars and enemies firing guns, until they’re run off a bridge and plunge toward the dark water below... only to be swallowed by a gigantic whale that shows up out of nowhere, drowning the yazuka in the process who also never show up and are barely mentioned ever again.

This is just the first forty minutes of the movie.

Mercifully, once our cast of characters actually finds themselves in the whale’s stomach, we stay in that location for the entire rest of the film. Kishi, Myon, and her sister meet a crazy old man who was also swallowed by the whale long ago and has build a little wooden village for himself to live in. From here on, Mind Game essentially becomes a trippy slice-of-life scenario following the characters living in the whale’s belly, the stress it puts on their emotional state, and how they all change and grow as a result of it, punctuated with sequences of LCD-induced lunacy as the characters let their emotions run hog-wild and we lose all sense of grounding in anything even resembling reality. Sadly, the jarring randomness of the film doesn’t vanish now that we’re stuck in a single location; every scene feels disconnected from the one that came before, every flight of fancy feels like a complete non-sequitor, and there’s basically nothing in the way of plot or character arcs until it’s suddenly revealed that the whale is dying and everyone decides they’d better try escaping despite its seeming impossibility. And then everything climaxes with, I shit you not, at least five straight minutes of the characters wordlessly running up a cascading waterfall as they try to escape the whale, with no variation and basically nothing going on but them running on vertical water and gradually losing their clothes in the process.

I don’t normally describe the entire plot of a movie or show in my reviews, but I need to give you the sense of how fucking nonsensical Mind Game is to watch. The closest thing it gets to a point is in some abstract notion of living your life to its fullest, which I guess is what all this insanity is supposed to represent, but it’s all so thoughtlessly thrown together that it comes off as little more than white noise. There are so many weird, bizarre, utterly unique images throughout this movie, and I remember basically none of them. I couldn’t begin to tell you why anything in this movie is the way it is. Why does it sometimes shift art styles so the characters are portrayed as photos of real-life people animated like stop motion? Why have the afterlife section at all if it’s never gonna come up again? Why is there a montage of moments in our characters’ pasts at the beginning and end of the movie? Is the crazy old man supposed to be Kishi’s father? Why does Myon have sex with Kishi after he tells her a story of tiny space explorers who live on her cells like they’re planets until she literally shits them out? Yes, go back, read that sentence again, that is an actual thing that happens in this movie. Also, we randomly get flashes of backstory for Myon right in the buildup to the big escape and she tells her that she’s sorry for always dumping the burden on her, which feels like it’s supposed to be the climax to a character arc, but I’m honestly not sure if they had a single conversation prior to that point, save for a brief moment in the bath that’s interrupted by Kishi and the old man perving on them, because of course it fucking is. Oh, and you better believe that Myon’s huge tits are a popular subject of both the characters’ conversations and the camera’s lens, even shortly after she’s almost raped. Because it’s deeeeeep, man, you just don’t get it, maaaaaaan!

Yeah, no, this movie sucks. It’s an incomprehensible clusterfuck of meaningless imagery mistaking confusing and obtuseness for profound insight and artistic brilliance. The only reason I’m not rating it lower is that it’s not offensive enough to really piss me off. It’s just baffling and annoying and a waste of time that no one should bother watching. Yuasa would go on to make actually good anime after this, with stories worth telling and visuals that supported them, so I won’t hold it against him. If nothing else, the animation is still legitimately impressive. But even as a debut project, this is too stupid to enjoy. Hopefully his future films will give me more to gush over, yeah?
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kempokid
87/100
While a bit slow in the middle, Mind Game is a fantastic movie that's equal parts mind bending and profound.
If nothing else, I can say for certain that Mind Game is a movie that appeals to my love for mindless weird shit. That said, if there's one thing I love more than mindless weird shit, it's when said weirdness acts as something to elevate something rather clever and complex, and that's what I feel like this film does remarkably well. While on the surface a lot of this can come of as wacky, creative surrealism that doesn't contribute to much beyond spectacle (and to be fair, some of it is exactly that), a lot of the imagery in this is also deceptively clever at how it represents its themes. Most notably, the film is about the almost endless possibilities that life brings forth and the way one's own indecision and desire to be overly cautious ends up stopping so many outcomes from happening, no matter how good some of them might seem. The representation of this indecision through scenes and concepts such as the film's ever-changing visual design of God, or how the stagnant, imprisoning nature of the main cast's situation is represented through toning down the more psychedelic, colourful elements that are put on display front and centre for the first act. This thematic cohesion continues with the way displays of self-expression are given far more detail and vibrancy to the colour palette, almost always being the most striking parts of the film to further convey the freeing nature of taking a leap and letting your creativity and motivation run wild.

Of course it's not just the deeper meaning of the film that makes this so amazing to me, it's also the way in which Masaaki Yuasa's visual style is so unbelievably special to the point where it's almost mind blowing. There's a certain appeal to the sheer ugliness put on display for a lot of this, almost like a warped, anime-styled take on the older Klasky Tsupo cartoons, further adding to the bizarre nature of the film while being incredibly distinct. The way this is supported by moments in which the animation quality either drastically increases or decreases, not to mention sometimes just entirely changing style, such as with adding realistic faces on top of crude looking drawings makes this an entertainingly unpredictable viewing experience. No matter how off the rails this gets, I never really find it to be particularly excessive either, with the more out there moments often being short lived and working as an effective means of providing an additional comedic layer to the events more than something that feels tastelessly added as an afterthought just for the sake of being all quirky. It also helps that so many of these sequences just manage to be beautifully artistic, whether it's moments of fluidity as splashes of colour are being thrown in the scenery, or simply briefly becoming something more conventionally appealing looking, just a constant bombardment of juxtaposed absurdity and gorgeousness.

Overall this is the sort of film that has a lot more going on than just what's on the surface, but the best thing about it is the way that even if you ignore all the symbolism, you've still got a genuinely incredible viewing experience that's filled to the brim with unhinged creativity. Some of the 2nd act does drag a bit, I will admit, but there's more than enough time spent on interesting content even during this part that ultimately makes it all a more than worthwhile watch, even with that bit in the middle that can dampen the overall impact. If you're in the mood for something off kilter and all around wild, I'd seriously recommend giving this movie a shot.
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WH473V3R
90/100
A masterpiece with a surprisingly poignant message, and exceptional visuals.
Mind Game – The Value Of Choices

The 2004 movie, directed by a visionary, Masaaki Yuasa, was one chaotic, joyride of a cinematic experience. The movie stands out from the rest, no matter where it's seen, because of its wonderfully expressive art style. A wide colour pallet, combined with dynamic, amazingly abstract animation, adds up to a masterful acid trip-esque experience that hooks you from the beginning and never lets you go. For the entire runtime of this film, I was enjoying myself through and through, something that rarely happens when I'm forced to sit down and pay attention for such a long time.

The movie's art direction was absolutely unforgettable, such stellar animation that I started asking myself why the SAKUGABOORU blog even bothered with their themes if they could simply spend their time dissecting every frame from this film...
It's obviously an exaggeration - I truly mean that I loved nearly everything about how this movie looked, but while the motions were near flawless, the frame rate wasn't perfect. In my opinion, the slight jankiness ultimately contributed to the movie's charm, but it could still be seen as a detriment to some people's enjoyment.

While the visual part of the experience was close to perfection, the story was not lacking either. With the opening treating us to a fast-paced montage composed of the lives of people we don't yet know, for just enough time to make anybody wander about its nature. The movie begins with introducing us to the protagonist Nishiki, and immediately within the first couple of minutes a twist occurred that subverted almost all of my expectations about how this movie would play out. We see the protagonist change his perspective about life, beginning to follow the carpe diem etiquette, and not let his life pass him by for any longer.
To avoid spoilers it's suffice to say that the story takes many unexpected turns along the way, and contains scenes that I will surely remember for a long time... in the positive light of course. Generally, however, the story focuses not on the quite simple message of "seize the day", but rather on the implications that it has on everyday life.
That message becomes painfully clear during the ending, [ this will be a spoiler, and while it's vague enough to not ruin anybody's experience - it is still better experienced by surprise ]: the same way in which the film begun - with a montage - it ends with one. Although, now we know all the characters whose daily lives are contained within these series of events. The compilation of many scenes that seemingly hold little significance, compares different decisions that various characters had to take in their past, and how they could have changed them. We see them abandon their loved ones, choosing their careers over human relationships, and vice versa.

Unlike in fiction, in real life, there are no second chances, and nobody ever gets to attempt the same thing twice, at least not truly. Contained perfectly within the film's main themes, the importance of choices is presented in many ways. Many might shrug the movie off, and pigeonhole it as one of many crazy, abstract, pieces of animation, that only serve to entertain, and have no deeper meaning. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear to see the message that it's trying to make us understand. So everybody - at least try to make the right choices, and never let fear get the better of you. I recommend this experience to anybody not off-put by this peculiar style of animation, if you have two hours on your hands, this is a great way to spend them.

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