For the first time, I had the honour and privilege of being invited as accredited press to Fantasia Festival (Aug 5 – Aug 25), one of the largest genre film festivals focusing on various Asian films as well as some of the most mind-blowing, eye catching premieres from across the world. The pandemic has opened new ways of hosting film festivals. Many of the premiere film festivals, including Marche du film, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca International Film festival, International Film Festival of Rotterdam are following a hybrid model, with both in-person theatrical screenings as well as virtual online screenings. The good part is that you can watch the premieres directly from your home, but the challenge is that there will be too many films to watch within a short time. Well, that is how film festivals are meant to be. That feeling of chaos and confusion on what to prioritise is one of the primary concerns for the festival-goers.
The time travel device is quite innovative in creating a worm hole of two minutes delay between the monitor in the coffee shop and the monitor at the room above. A coworker in the coffee shop and Kato’s friends who visit the coffee shop get to know about this, and things get crazier as all these people get involved. A brilliant idea of putting in more monitors to extend the time from two minutes to infinite is brought in. Just like when you have a mirror opposite to a mirror and create the infinity mirror or “Droste effect”. The film never goes overboard with high-fi graphics or gadgets. Within the limited area of just a coffee shop, staircase area and the room above, Yamaguchi has masterfully handled the screenplay so that it is simple enough for him to shoot it in a single take. Many questions arise while watching the film and the more you think about what is happening, the more you get drawn to possibilities of the narrative. This film bagged the audience award and for the Best Asian Feature.