Japan movie review: Karthi-starrer is a farce that is just not funny or edgy

Director: Raju Murugan Cast: Karthi, Sunil, Anu Emanuel A man who is narcissistic enough to make a movie about his life, a life is filled to brim with theft, death and chaos, is framed in a case at an inopportune moment in his life. It is farcical really, and Japan, the film starring actor Karthi in titular role attempts to make this farcical situation funny. However, it is clear that something has gone terribly wrong with the film from the very beginning. A sequence of scenes beginning with Karthi’s intro as Japan left me dumbfounded. This is technically a win for the film as that is exactly the reaction that the maker goes for. It is not so much a twist, but more a quirk of the film. If only this quirk was used well, Japan could truly have been one of the better films that uses farce to ante the humor up. Instead, we have something that is hard to understand quite a while into the film. Of course, one gets the basic idea of where the filmmaker is going with parallel narratives – one that is supposed to be a thrilling chase, while another is a sketch or portrayal of the everyday life of a mysterious thief named Japan. He wants contrasting moods to sharpen and focus on the absurdity of it all. However, this does more harm for the film than. As the switch between the two moods are abrupt and oftentimes, not timed well, there is disconnect. For absurdity to work in a film, it needs every character to perform with conviction, and Japan has a promising cast in spades. Be it Karthi , Anu Emmanuel, Vagai Chandrashekar or Sunil among others, their read on their character is funny. Take Sunny for instance, he plays the role of a villain in the film, yet, the most promising part of the film happened to his interactions with Japan. The later is extremely flippant while the former is terrifyingly ruthless. In addition to them, there is another plot line starring Jithan Ramesh that is also explored, but not satisfyingly so. With so much going on in the film, not one aspect of the visual story makes a mark. Sure, a moment here and minute there, we do find those funny, but the film, overall is not my cup of tea. Even if absurd in the theme of choice, there is something that keeps this theme together and stops it from becoming a travesty. It is this very something that is missing in the film. The film has some interesting visuals by Ravi Varman, but when everything fails, even beautiful visuals cannot save it. GV Prakash’s music does not do much for the film either. Yes, some films thrive in their chaos, and own absurdity with ease, but Japan is just not that film. Rating: 1.5 (out of 5 stars) Japan is playing in cinemas

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