Chasuke's Journey

Chasuke (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is in charge of making tea to angels in heaven who script the life story of human beings. When he finds out that the earthling Yuki (Ito Ohno) is destined to get hit by a car and die, he decides to go down to the earth and rescue her. His journey on the planet develops into a real challenge for Chasuke, who meets gangsters, the mass media and numerous of sick people who get to know his healing powers. Like a Messiah figure with fake angel wings, Chasuke soon becomes a local celebrity, although all he really wants is to get to know the beautiful Yuri.

Chasuke’s Journey is a visual firework that most have drawn inspiration from movies such as the Matrix franchise and Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels. The story takes place partly in a frantic pace, before it in the next moment passes into long, murky shots. Genre-wise, the movie is just as playful. It is both a touching love story, an absurd comedy and a hyperactive thriller, wrapped in a stunning science fiction format. The mythical director SABU (Dangan Runner, Postman Blue) has with Chasuke's Journey once again managed to create an utterly fascinating film. The film was shown at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, and is a must for anyone who appreciates the science fiction genre.

Cyberpunk director SABU (b. 1964) started as an actor, before he made his directorial debut with his visually roaring style with Dangan Runner (1996), almost as the same time as Tom Tykwer made stylistically very comparable Run Lola Run. A style he has been faithful to later in his career, with Postman Blues (1997) and Monday (2000) as the most famous examples.