Radžio no džikan

A masterful triumph of the film form over the theatrical source. Though it’s based on a play by the director himself, the film does not in any way suffer from theatrical stiffness. Action sequences, Eisenstein-esque compositions (a face in profile taking up half of a shot), the vertigo effect, swift camera movements and other tricks prevent our attention from waning. Thanks to the imaginative way the production is handled, the filmmakers succeeded in creating an unexpectedly grand drama in a small space that in many ways reaches beyond the soundproofed walls of the recording studio. Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (whose title is aptly reminiscent of the famous Spanish comedy Welcome Mr. Marshall!) starts out as a satire about the possible consequences of Japanese obligingness, the destructiveness of trendy Americanisation and the pitfalls of collective creative expression, when everyone wants to be an artist. In the manner of the butterfly effect, one compromise sets off a series of events that change the story from something firmly fixed into a process with an unpredictable result. Whereas the second third of the film is primarily a madcap comedy based on perfectly organised chaos, the film becomes serious at the end and finally pushes the hitherto sidelined writer into the foreground. Scenes that are similar in content are differently “coded” in the almost epic climax. It suffices to change the background music and the farce becomes a heroic drama. However, the director is well aware of the theatricality of this and doesn’t shy away from dispensing with it at the appropriate moment (for example, through the sensitive truck driver played by Ken Watanabe). As a bonus, this stylistically variable gem gives you instructions on how to make fireworks that won’t cost you anything. 80% (02.05.2013)