Summary
A ghostly comedy goes for broad appeal by sticking to a simple formula, a father-daughter relationship — and death metal.
Afterlife comedies are a dime a dozen, with popular films like Koki Mitani’s A Ghost of a Chance always being mainstays at the box office. Still, NOT QUITE DEAD YET (一度死んでみた) has unquestionably found a new spin on the genre that refuses to die.
The debut feature film of Shinji Hamasaki, who was primarily known for his commercial television work, it comes with a script from Yoshimitsu Sawamoto, who was behind Shochiku comedies Judge! and 10 Promises to My Dog. It follows Nanase Nobata (Suzu Hirose), a university student and death metal singer who has a difficult relationship with her father Kei (Shinichi Tsutsumi).
Kei is the head of a major pharmaceutical company, and has controlled everything in his life — including Nanase — within an inch of its life. Trying to figure out who is rorting the company, he takes an experimental drug that kills him for two days. As the powers working against him latch onto his scheme, he returns as a ghost that only Nanase can see. She teams up with loyal employee Taku Matsuoka (Ryo Yoshizawa) to expose the crooks and ensure her dad’s resurrection goes to plan.
NOT QUITE DEAD YET is a silly film. The broad comedy stylings certainly won’t appeal to all audiences, as there is nary a trace of sophistication to Sawamoto’s script. Still, there’s a joyful exuberance to it, a film that’s just as comfortable with recurring gags about Kei’s smell as they are with very specific Tokyo references. (There’s also a musical reference to the Swayze starring Ghost that made me smile). After a while, chances are you’ll find yourself just going with it.
It’s also great to see Suzu Hirose in a lead role. Following her early work in Hirokazu Koreeda’s Our Little Sister, and her lead in the fan-favourite Chihayafuru franchise, here she adopts a light metal persona. There’s an emphasis on goofy, right down to the exaggerated responses. The repeated metal song of ‘death death death death’ is surprisingly catchy.
It’s a nice contrast with the restrained Yoshizawa, who is so unassuming that people often just don’t see him. Rounding out the cast is a bit of a who’s who of Japanese character actors, especially as Hamasaki builds to the concert/funeral climax. Rurouni Kenshin’s Takeru Satoh turns up as a hotel employee, Kakegurui’s Elaiza Ikeda has a small role, as do Jun Shishon (The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window), Tae Kimura and Satoshi Tsumabuki. You don’t often get to say this about the ubiquitous Lily Franky, but he’s criminally underused as the Grim Reaper.
In a year of Japanese films that have tackled some weighty subjects while dealing with current events, this simple father-daughter comedy comes as a breath of fresh air. It’s all much ado about nothing, but if you’re looking for some simple escapism this might just be your ticket.
2020 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Shinji Hamasaki | WRITER: Yoshimitsu Sawamoto | CAST: Suzu Hirose, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Lily Franky, Ryo Yoshizawa | DISTRIBUTOR: Shochiku, Japanese Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 28 October – 5 December 2021 (JFF)
