Melancholic (2018): Darkly Hilarious Romantic Dramedy with added Yakuza violence (Review)

Before launching into Third Window Films latest release – Seiji Tanaka’s Melancholic – allow me the indulgence of explaining why I adore East Asian cinema. Japanese, Chinese and Korean cinema use their time as a canvas to evolve, expand or become something else entirely. Outside of the few high profile names who have become global, more often than not a film from that part of the world will have gained some level of cult, notoriety or fame due to it changing what it is multiple times, defying expectations along the way. Look at the recent One Cut of the Dead (Also Third Window) as the perfect illustration.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Kazuhiko (Yoji Minagawa) is a graduate of Japan’s prestigious Tokyo University, only instead of being on a fast track to prosperity, he lives with his parents after a string of part-time jobs. Meeting an old high school classmate, Yuri (Mebuki Yoshida), at the local bathhouse, he starts the first awkward steps towards romance. Exaggerating his status, saying that he is stepping away from the go-go-go of Tokyo business, Yuri suggests that Kazuhiko gets a job at that very bathhouse. An innocent plan that results in Kazuhiko becoming a cleanup man for the local yakuza who the bathhouse as “its the easiest place to clean up any evidence, afterwards”.

Third Window Films have a history on two footings, the first, as we saw last month with their reissue of Fish Story, sees them tackle higher profile names in modern Asian cinema – the second sees them take chances on up and coming talent. Melancholic sees that risk pay off. This isn’t just taking a chance on new and upcoming talent, this is a micro-budget project in which most the major players are debuting actors and the director himself is pulling a triple shift as writer/director/editor. The very mark of a micro-budgeted indie if ever there was one.

We’ve all seen films in which it was clear as day that it was a small budgeted project featuring actors with no prior experience. The one catch-all term that reviewers throw around on such occasions is “raw”. This just isn’t the case in the modern era as the standard of acting (in East Asia) is of a remarkably high calibre.

The Yoji Minagawa who played Kazuhiko and the Yoji Minagawa in the Q&A on the extras, well, you’d be forgiven for not thinking they are the same person. His mannerisms, the way he expresses himself and even the voice, he disappears into the role. Without seeing the real man, it would appear that the role was filled by just another meek Japanese 20-something, talking about him through that context, however, it shows a man wholly committed to the role. If this was from any other part of the world, this would be described as a non-professional cast – however, for that turn alone, Melancholic rises above that copy/paste criticism. The rest of the cast might not be as invisible as Minagawa, but the other two central players in Mebuki Yoshida and the Kuzuhiko’s bleached blonde workmate, Matsumoto (Yoshitomo Isozaki), deserve similar plaudits. As without them, the film wouldn’t be anywhere near as heartwarming as it is.

Japanese comedy can be quite odd, the idea of wordplay or double acts is much more fundamental there, not really jiving with the British, Irish or American ideas of comedy. Dark comedy is a much easier match with comedy a British audience might relate to. Seiji Tanaka’s script takes advantage of the absurdity of matching the “typical Tokyo U” student with the Yakuza, turning gangland slayings into the most mundane of workplace grievances. At it’s worst, melancholic is consistently charming and funny, at its best, it’s about as funny as anything in 2020.

A lot of people will find a lot to like about the newest addition to the Third Window family, however, that’s not to say that there aren’t issues – niggles but no less worth mentioning. Yakuza are families serving clans, here, however, we only ever seen one singular Yakuza member (Tanaka (Masanobu Yata)) which hurts the film, escalating as it does. A small issue related to the budget but a damaging one. The other is a matter of the ending, so I’ll try to talk around it as best I can. Essentially, there’s a scene with Kazuhiko talking to Yuri at the front desk of the bathhouse, a perfect final scene. And then that is followed by a sentimental narration track about as out of character for the film as possible. If this was an American film, its the sort of ending that would be tacked on after a lacklustre test screening. The result? Instead of ending with a characterful bang, it limps over the finish line with a whimper.

Third Window Films are at their best when they are championing the up and coming. Sure, that is a risky strategy that fails as much as it succeeds, however, for me, you can file Melancholic next to the likes of Bleak Night, Eiji Uchida, Shady and the aforementioned One Cut of the Dead. This is the emergence of a genuine talent.

Thanks for reading our review of Melancholic

For more Movie talk, check out our podcast CINEMA ECLECTICA.