Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageBare Essence of Life (Ultra-Miracle Love Story) (2009)
Director: Satoko Yokohama
Movie review
From Time Out Online
Hot young Japanese actor Matsuyama plays Yojin, a 25-year-old farmer who acts like an excitable child because his brain is ‘wired differently’. Yojin develops a crush on the village’s new kindergarten teacher Miss Machiko, so tries to tone down his behaviour to woo her - there are two wonderful extended scenes of the pair talking unselfconsciously as he walks her home from work. Then things get strange. Yojin dies of a heart attack, but is alive and well in the next scene. Then he dies again, and Machiko – whose previous boyfriend was decapitated – keeps his brain in a jar, before feeding it to a bear. This bizarre shift in tone colours all that has gone before it, making it hard to distinguish the real from the surreal. Which is a shame, as the real part was rather charming.Author: Sarah Cohen
Time Out Online London Film Festival 2009
Cast & crew
Director: Satoko Yokohama
Cast: Kenichi Matsuyama, Kumiko Aso, Arata
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 120 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now