Happy Machine
Reality is not all it seems in this journey into an alternative existence filled with bizarre creatures.
16'
Japan
IFFR 2023
Take in the genesis of cult Japanese filmmaker Yuasa Masaaki’s psychedelic and strikingly strange visuals with his first animated feature, Mind Game. Based on Robin Nishi’s manga, the film follows the frenetic and crazed adventures of Nishi and Myon as they battle gangsters and dabble with death on a surreal voyage of self-discovery. Released in 2004 by Studio 4°C, Mind Game climbed to cult status and collected a host of awards from festivals around the world.
With an unrestrained vision, Yuasa tackles complex themes of identity and pre-determination using a mash-up of traditional and modern techniques. Never sticking to any particular style, the film flips between hand-drawn animation and digital effects as Nishi slips between the worlds of the living and the dead while struggling to change his destiny.
With Mind Game, Yuasa has created a manic, mind-bending adventure that barely pauses for breath. Having set up his own studio, Science SARU, he continues to incorporate influences from Hayao Miyazaki to Dali into cutting-edge animation.
– Justine Maybank
IFFR 2023
- 103'
- Japan
- 2004
- Director
- Yuasa Masaaki
- Country of production
- Japan
- Year
- 2004
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2023
- Length
- 103'
- Medium
- 35mm
- Original title
- Maindo gēmu
- Language
- Japanese
- Producer
- Tanaka Eiko
- Production Companies
- Beyond C., Culture Entertainment, Asmik Ace
- Sales
- Studio 4°C
- Screenplay
- Yuasa Masaaki
- Editor
- Mizuta Keiko
- Production Design
- Hishiyama Toru
- Music
- Yamamoto Seiichi
- Cast
- Imada Koji, Maeda Sayaka, Fujii Takashi, Takuma Seiko, Yamaguchi Tomomitsu
- Director
- Yuasa Masaaki
- Country of production
- Japan
- Year
- 2004
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2023
- Length
- 103'
- Medium
- 35mm
- Original title
- Maindo gēmu
- Language
- Japanese
- Producer
- Tanaka Eiko
- Production Companies
- Beyond C., Culture Entertainment, Asmik Ace
- Sales
- Studio 4°C
- Screenplay
- Yuasa Masaaki
- Editor
- Mizuta Keiko
- Production Design
- Hishiyama Toru
- Music
- Yamamoto Seiichi
- Cast
- Imada Koji, Maeda Sayaka, Fujii Takashi, Takuma Seiko, Yamaguchi Tomomitsu
Programme IFFR 2023
Focus: Yuasa Masaaki
When, at IFFR 2018, Yuasa Masaaki's Night Is Short, Walk On Girl screened, audiences and critics alike went wild with delight and wonder. Now, apropos his latest work, INU-OH, IFFR is proud to present the internationally first extensive retrospective of a modern master who, since his first efforts in the 90s as a storyboard artist and episode director, developed into one of world cinema's most inventive and constantly surprising animation auteurs.
Recurring topics of transformation, self-expression, and love are exemplary of Yuasa's oeuvre – complemented with an animation style that characteristically favours movement and emotions that feel both authentic and real. In series like The Tatami Galaxy (2010) or Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020), as well as films like Lu Over the Wall (2017) or Ride Your Wave (2019), Yuasa's filmmaking combines the surreal with the cute, the socially conscious with flights of fancy, the visually staggeringly experimental with the narratively classical. IFFR is proud to celebrate a creative mind that, like few others, knows how to fuse the popular with the avant-garde.
Read more about this programmeINU-OH
Set in medieval Japan, dissident musicians take on tradition in a counterculture manifesto with a contemporary feel.
98'
Japan
IFFR 2023
Japan Sinks: 2020 Theatrical Edition
A teenage athlete grapples with guilt and loss in this intimate, tonally complex disaster epic.
151'
Japan
IFFR 2023