Fine, Totally Fine

Introduction

Third Window Films' treasure hunt continues, as they seek out the unexpected gems and gold of Asian cinema. This May sees the release of Fine, Totally Fine, a rather quirky comedy from first time writer-director Yosuke Fujita. Third Window usually have to make the best of the material they obtain, which can occasionally be disappointing. Fortunately, Fine, Totally Fine doesn't have the same snags as the other May release, Funuke, and instead has a very pleasant anamorphic transfer.


Teruo is almost thirty, and he has big plans for his life. He aims to build the world's biggest, best and most frightening haunted house. But like most unmotivated 29-year-olds, he spends his time thinking up more and more elaborate ways to play scary pranks on his friends, working part time as a municipal gardener, and occasionally helping out in his father's bookshop. His friend Hisanobu works as an assistant supervisor in a hospital's sanitation department, the nice guy, the single guy who all the women want to find a bride for, and who's usually oblivious to any female attention that he does get. One day, when his boss is at a meeting, he hires Akari, a woman who walks into the interview ruffled, covered in mud, and bleeding. She's extremely shy, and extremely clumsy (the only woman who can break a finger pushing an elevator button), but she has a quirky personality, and a fascination with a homeless woman who lives in a nearby park. Hisanobu develops an affection for her, but can't prevent her clumsiness from getting her fired. To make amends, he recommends her to Teruo to work in his father's bookshop. Soon Teruo is falling for her as well.

Picture

The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is pleasant enough, the image is represented with clarity and strong colours, with the only drawback being the usual one of an NTSC-PAL conversion. Fine, Totally Fine is a bright, colourful and quirky film, directed with understated flair and a very charming sense of composition. This is a dual layer disc, and there are no problems with compression that I noted.

Sound

You get a vanilla DD 2.0 Japanese track, with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is clear, while the mellow whimsical music suits the tone of the film perfectly.

Extras

Likeable, animated menus offer you links to the theatrical trailer, an 11-minute interview with Yosiyosi Arakawa (Teruo), and a 9-minute interview with Yoshinori Okada (Hisanobu). There are also 14 trailers for other Third Window product.

Conclusion

Fine, Totally Fine is quirky, charming, unexpected, unconventional, and ultimately leaves you feeling better about yourself. It certainly surprised me, even though I was expecting good things from it. The name of Yosiyosi Arakawa first drew my attention, as he's one of the most recognisable faces in modern Japanese cinema, although he's usually to be found in supporting roles, character parts in films like Ping Pong, Survive Style 5+ and Kamikaze Girls. He does a great line in gormless, but Fine, Totally Fine shows that he can carry a film as lead actor as well, and his offbeat comedy is ideally suited to a story such as this.


That offbeat approach is apparent from the first frame, when we're introduced to Akari, as she spies through binoculars at an eccentric homeless woman building sculptures from garbage in a park. A gardener, who happens to be relieving himself at the time, walks over to inquire what she's up to, forgetting to zip himself up, and terrifying the shy Akari in the process. Meanwhile, the gardener's subordinate, Teruo, is in a tree, telling ghost stories to mid-air. It's very much an in at the deep-end approach to storytelling, that leaves your brain whirling while you try and makes heads or tails of what is going on, but it's ultimately very rewarding, and very funny.


Fine, Totally Fine offers character studies of the outcasts, the oddballs in society that don't exactly fit in, but wind up being the most interesting of characters. The story progresses, relationships develop, never in the manner that you are expecting, but in surprisingly satisfying ways. It's a feel-good comedy that works insidiously, in ways that you least imagine. It's quiet, it's understated, but it's wryly observant, with a wonderful cast of oddball characters, and gentle tale of hopeful ennui. It's also a film that stays with you after the end credits roll, and its sparky little moments go to work on your subconscious. I find that I appreciate the film a lot more 15 hours later writing the review, than I did last night when I ejected the disc from my player, and I'm certain that I will return to this film sooner than most.


Of Third Window Films' May releases, this is certainly the one to get in terms of technical quality, with a nice anamorphic transfer and optional subtitles, but I also feel it has a slight edge on Funuke in terms of whimsical spontaneity. It's well worth putting some money down for, and I'll think you'll find it to be an amusing surprise.