Sweet Rain
In Sweet Rain, grim reapers stroll on a walkway overlooking the world before embarking on their next assignment: spending a week on Earth deciding whether or not to ‘proceed’ with a subject’s impending death (they don’t do illnesses or suicide cases). One of these agents of death goes by the name of Chiba (Takeshi Kaneshiro). He loves our music, struggles to keep up with the latest street slang, and wonders why it always rains on him.
Over the film’s duration, he takes up the seemingly unconnected cases of a 27-year-old customer service officer (Manami Konishi) who bemoans the untimely deaths of her loved ones; a 40-year-old yakuza member (Ken Mitsuishi) taking a junior gangster apprentice under his wing; and a 70-year-old hairdresser (Sumiko Fuji), who simply wants her last wish fulfilled.
Frequently deriving its humour from Chiba’s childlike fascination with human culture, this light-hearted little film is anchored by an innocently charismatic Kaneshiro. What really sets this film apart from the clichés, however, is its readiness to eschew the grandiose premise. Reversing the norm that goes back to The Seventh Seal and beyond, none of the subjects bother to prolong their lives. There’s also no indication that Chiba desires to be human or to experience life, instead he just wants more music. For a film contemplating the concept of mortality and the meaning of life, Sweet Rain’s story weighs lighter than a drop of rain.
Edmund Lee
Dir Masaya Kakei, Category IIA, 114 mins, Opens Oct 15
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Edmund Lee's review is much too generous to this little nothing of a film that plays more like 3 episodes of a dull TV series taped together and passed off as a feature film. In fact, the scenes of Chiba inadvertently touching mortals with his ungloved hands and seeing them freeze and die temporarily is straight from the short-lived American TV series PUSHING DAISIES. There is very little story here. And granted Kaneshiro is easy on the eyes, charming, and a movie star, one has to be a super fan of his to find this film enjoyable. Basically, the movie is following his character around as he meets a half dozen people. There's no story purpose and no conflict. Hence, no forward momentum. Kaneshiro just mugs for the camera and tries to carry the film on what's left of his boyish charm. That may work to a certain extent, but given how overexposed the guy is, it's a flimsy excuse to justify a feature film. The above review also conveniently leaves out the presence of the main character's sidekick, a black lab, with whom Kaneshiro converses telepathically (dog gets subtitles) to provide exposition. The three separate stories are connected by the thinnest contrivance. Basically, this film seems to have been made because Kaneshiro agreed to be in it. It is one of the dullest movies that is currently screening in Hong Kong. Why this film was made or distributed is a mystery to me. By the way, the literal Japanese title is ACCURACY OF DEATH. Neither that nor SWEET RAIN is apt. A far more fitting title is COME WATCH TAKESHI KANESHIRO IN SIX DIFFERENT OUTFITS AND AS MANY HAIRSTYLES AS HE SMILES GOOFILY FOR THE Nth TIME. I'm not sure how the number rating works. But I'm giving it a "1" because negative numbers are not part of the choices.
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