The Never Ending Story

In 1981, Filmteen and his pals spent a good portion of their summer vacation sitting in the UA East 85th St. watching a film that contained everything they could possibly want -- comedy, ultra-violence, sex, semi-nude buxom women who kicked ass, and a soundtrack with songs by Cheap Trick, Journey and Devo (among others). Heavy Metal was a fifteen year-old boy's dream come true. Over time the film lost its appeal, and today only works for reasons of nostalgia. This is the feeling Filmbrain had when watching Masaaki Yuasa's Mind Game, an animated film that he would have no doubt loved years ago, but found somewhat tiresome today. Yuasa's debut feature, Mind Game has been touted as an anime masterpiece, and one that completely redefines the medium. While the latter might be true, there's simply too much in the film that feels overly familiar. Mind Game starts out promising, with a montage of rapid-fire scenes that (without context) makes little sense, but is utterly fascinating to look at. Yuasa makes use of many different styles of animation -- everything from the familiar lo-fi sharp-edged style found in classic anime TV series to hi-tech 3D computer generated wonders. In between there are visual references to other animated classics -- everything from early Fleischer brothers to Fantasia, Yellow Submarine, and Fantastic Planet. It's a visual feast from start to finish, yet without a compelling enough story to support it. Nishi is an awkward, insecure manga artist who has never been able to properly confess his love for his childhood sweetheart Myon. Brutally murdered in her presence, he demands that god (depicted as a non-stop shape-shifter) give him another chance to prove himself, and so begins our adventure. After a scrape with the Osaka yakuza, Nishi, Myon and her sister Yan find themselves trapped in the belly of a whale where they meet Jiisan, a modern-day Jonah. Unfortunately, the film starts to sputter out, and by the seventy-five mark minute feels very tired (with still another thirty minutes to go!) Fortunately, it begins to pick up again towards the end. Filmbrain isn't familiar with Robin Nishi's manga that the film is based on, but the characters in the film aren't all that interesting. With all the visual trickery going on, you sort of half-expect something slightly more creative, original or anarchic from the screenplay, but what we get we've seen before. Do we really need another child-like, doe-eyed, stick-figured heroine with outlandishly large breasts and the men who sweat, scream and physically distort themselves over them? The lengthy sequence inside the whale (where most of the film takes place) segues from one fantasy scene to another, which allows Yuasa to come up with a whole new slew of visual ideas, but grinds the plot to a halt. A feature-length non-narrative experiment might have been more successful than this hybrid approach, which is ultimately unsatisfying. That said, there is more to enjoy in Mind Game than the visuals. Several genuinely hysterical moments, combined with a final fifteen, chaotic, WTF? minutes (including a lengthier, even more schizophrenic montage), makes the carpe diem theme that lingers over the whole film a bit more palatable. A title card at the conclusion tells us "this story has never ended" -- and though it may feel that way after 104 minutes, Mind Game is still well worth the trip, flaws and all. Guaranteed to be a hit with the stoner crowd.

Comments

[DarkDays]

Couldn't agree with you more. I saw the rave on Twitch and bought the DVD and was really disappointed. Like you said, it has worthwhile moments, but is a bit too sloppy and sophomoric overall.

[Jill H]

Filmbrain you are way too kind. This movie sucked. My SO is an anime junkie and even she couldn't stand it. For geek boys only.

[tenajs]

I agree that no "anime junkie" would even flick a sight at this film. Maybe the guys will for the breasts, maybe. This film is for animation auteurs, not really storytellers.

[Stephan]

all i can say is: The movie is great. Nobody will engoy the movie with a closed mind. open your mind an you will feel it :-D