Program Note
“Do you need a fake boyfriend? Do you want many visitors at the funeral?”
Kazuto, an aspiring actor who faints when he is nervous due to childhood trauma. One day, he met his brother who he hadn’t spoken with for a few years. He suggests that Kazuto join Special Actors, a company that helps overcome their client’s traumas by acting out customized scenarios. He meets a client who asks to rescue her sister who has joined a UFO cult. Kazuto falls in love with her at first sight. Will he be able to safely finish his performance and get her to fall in love with him?
Even though it was made with a low budget, this has brilliant ideas, screenplays with reversals, and ensembles creating perfect harmony. Yes. Director Shinichiro Ueda of One Cut of the Dead (2017), loved by many audiences, is back with more actors and the story scale has grown. The slapstick comedy sometimes won't deliver 100% to foreign audience, but it has the power to keep us surprised until the end of the story. (Ellen Y. D. KIM)