Kamisama no pazuru (2008)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Shinji Kimoto (novel)
Masa Nakamura (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 June 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A set of twins -- one a hard-working student and the other a drifter -- team up with a dropout to unlock the secrets of the universe and to build one of their own. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Hayato Ichihara	...	Kiichi Watanuki / Motokazu Watanuki
Mitsuki Tanimura	...	Saraka
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken'ichi Endô
Yusuke Hirayama
Yuriko Ishida	...	Ms. Hatomura
Nozomu Iwao	...	Sudo
Masaya Kikawada	...	Airi
Yoshio Kojima	...	Student
Jun Kunimura	...	Murakami
Rio Matsumoto	...	Shiratori
Naomasa Musaka	...	Gonda
Eugene Nomura
Reisen Ri	...	Yamada
Takashi Sasano	...	Hashizume
Christian Storms	...	TV Interviewer
Kotaro Tanaka	...	Sakura
Mayumi Wakamura	...	Saraka's mother

Also Known As:

God's Puzzle (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:134 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Company:

Avex Entertainment

Physics, physics, physics, mad scientist

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie is about a simple-minded wannabe-rock musician doubling his twin brother as a physics student at an university, where he meets one of the smartest girl in Japan, and end up pursuing how to create a new universe.

The first half was very enjoyable for me. A lot of physics jargon mixed with light comedy that resembled the "Galileo" dorama series. I don't remember everything I learned in Physics I 3 years ago, and I learned it in English, so I was only able to recognize about half of the theories mentioned, but it was presented in layman's terms that I found to be very interesting and educational.

The second half, however... slowly turned into a story where the girl becomes a mad scientist. It was more like a really poorly made terrorist thriller, with too many WTF moments. The guitar-playing in the lab, sushi in the rain etc... it was just too crazy for me to comprehend.

Ichikawa Hayato's acting as a simple-minded guy was very convincing, but I found him to be annoying in the second half as he seemed to SCREAM out every single word even when it's totally unnecessary. Tanimura Mitsuki was solid as usual. No one in Japan can play the dark teenager roles better than her.

The movie was enjoyable overall for me, but I think it could've been a lot better with better script and direction.