Mind Game

(2004)

Masaaki Yuasa • 103 minutes • Japan

Mind Game (2004)
Masaaki Yuasa
103min., Japan

Tuesday 24-07
22:15
Drijvend Paviljoen

“ A visual rollercoaster with Japanese bandits and losers”

Nishi, a young loser who dreams of becoming a manga artist, is shot in the arse trying to save his highschool sweetheart Myon from the Yakusa. Catapulted into limbo land, he has a psychedelic meeting with Kami-san, God – shown as a dazzling shape shifting creature – who tells him to walk toward the light. Instead Nishi runs like hell back to earth and returns a changed man, driven to make every day count. Fleeing from the Yakuza, he, Myon and her sister Yan embark on a psychedelic trip over land and seas.

After watching his latest psychedelic anime The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017) at IFFR this year, we got curious to see more of the work of Masaaki Yuasa. Living up to its name, his first feature Mind Game blew (and screwed with) our heads. A lightning-fast virtuoso journey of Japanese culture blended with Jonah and the Whale and complete nuttiness. Full of witty dialogues, dry humor and giving a very important message to all of us: let’s live life to the fullest! And start by making sure you don’t miss Mind Game: a cult classic to be.