Making its rounds on the festival circuit over on this side of the world, Mind Game is turning heads and blowing minds as a hybrid narrative and experimental anime that recalls anything from Yellow Submarine to Waking Life. But really, it’s a one of a kind film. Little in the anime world is more impressive than this array of two and three-dimensional animation styles coupled with an utterly surreal mood that bounces around and leaves the viewer exhausted and yearning for more.
The beauty, however, is that Mind Game’s narrative is much more grounded than expected— beginning with the chance meeting of two childhood friends on the subway. Nishi, your average, timid, manga artist loser happens upon Myon, the kind-natured, big-breasted girl he has been in love with since age 9, and he discovers she is preparing to marry a simple truck driver named Ryo. They go to her family’s yakitori bar to catch up and Nishi meets Ryo, Myon’s sister Yang and her father. Midway through the dinner, a couple yakuza suddenly crash the restaurant demanding money and things go very downhill.
And cue a plot that takes the viewer flying through the streets of Osaka in a high-speed chase, up to heaven to meet the constantly shape-shifting God, down into a whale’s belly to meet a thirty-year long inhabitant, and jumping across time in beautiful montages as bookends to the film. The film is a fantastical journey that goes so far as to tackle metaphysical subjects, stylishly reminiscent of Waking Life, but with a clear narrative to keep the viewer emotionally connected. At its heart, Mind Game is a simple drama about a loser reaching back out to his life-long love and improving himself, but it is drenched in unique flashbacks, trippy dreams, impressionistic visuals and magical realism.
However, no one deserves more credit than the animation production company Studio 4°C, who do anything and everything to deliver the visuals that mold the script’s insanity into something tangible. While Production I.G.’s Innocence made its mark with a gorgeously slick CGI and 2D mix, Studio 4°C channels a multitude of styles and blends them into one seamless feature to give the viewer an experience like no other. The imagination and energy here recalls Gainax’s 6-episode FLCL series, but Mind Game never seems as random as robots growing out of children’s heads. At the same time, this film has both an uncontainable spirit and a purposeful direction.
The only major problem may be its speed and momentum, manifested in the disorienting plot and the occasionally brisk character development. But in the slower third act, when the wild energy of the first half is dissipated, questions are finally answered and characters developed. The precise pacing then leads into the longest, most frantic climax imaginable.
And the film’s final ten minutes is pure bliss. The viewer is riled up and twisted every which way, while reaching a perfect state of understanding and appreciation for each little meaningless detail, each image, and each frame of Mind Game—while an epic soundtrack combining pop, rock, jazz and orchestral arrangements flourishes in the background. The finale is the ultimate overload that has its way of leaving the viewer gasping for air and poised as ever to re-watch the film as soon as physically possible. Words hardly suffice to describe the experience. It is simply one of those rare films that reaffirms belief in the awe-inspiring wonder of images, anime, cinema and life.
Reviewed by Tarun
