Dustin: 3.5 of 5 stars Nick: 3.5 of 5 stars Average: 3.5 of 5 stars (Live canary)
Dustin: Uzumasa Limelight is a Japanese film about an elderly movie extra struggling to find work as the samurai genre loses popularity and he faces ageism in finding other roles. He takes a fresh-faced rising star under his wing and teaches her the art of acting with swords.
Dustin: The title refers to the Charlie Chaplin film Limelight, which is also about an actor nearing the end of his career, and the film contains several references to the Tramp.
Nick: It took five minutes for me to automatically love Uzumasa Limelight. The simplicity of the story, the subject matter, and the nuanced performance by the lead actor, Seizo Fukumoto, all attracted me to a film. The subject matter being that of Samurai dramas, which I love. I’ve recently acquired the criterion box set of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman!
Dustin: This was a bit like Jiro Dreams of Sushi in that it showed an elderly expert who dedicates himself completely to his craft. This is a very Japanese characteristic. Americans typically don’t pursue one craft with the Zen-like singlemindedness some Japanese do.
Nick: It had a very corny third act. Events either went sour or turned around in an extremely easy manner. All of a sudden the producer, who was the reason we even have this story since he is ageist, decides at the end when Kamiyama (Fukumoto) can’t complete his job he should no longer be ageist and stick up for him.
Dustin: This was a bit like Jiro Dreams of Sushi in that it showed an elderly expert who dedicates himself completely to his craft. This is a very Japanese characteristic. Americans typically don’t pursue one craft with the Zen-like singlemindedness some Japanese do.
Nick: It had a very corny third act. Events either went sour or turned around in an extremely easy manner. All of a sudden the producer, who was the reason we even have this story since he is ageist, decides at the end when Kamiyama (Fukumoto) can’t complete his job he should no longer be ageist and stick up for him.
Dustin: The movie did a good job with the comedic bits though. The young generation of directors and actors are depicted as comically entitled and out-of-touch. After our hero’s show has been canceled, it’s replaced with a misguided interpretation of the life and times of Oda Nobunaga, called Oda Nobu!, with anime-like wigs and over-the-top action sequences. The title would have been more appropriate for a series about Oda Nobunari.
Nick: The technical aspects of the film were superbly done. Every shot made me gasp for some reason or another. Either the lighting was perfect in every shot or the camera would be straight or tilted to show a loss or gain of power from Kamiyama’s standpoint. The story might have been simple, but the film as a whole was well thought out.
Nick: The technical aspects of the film were superbly done. Every shot made me gasp for some reason or another. Either the lighting was perfect in every shot or the camera would be straight or tilted to show a loss or gain of power from Kamiyama’s standpoint. The story might have been simple, but the film as a whole was well thought out.
Dustin: I actually didn’t care for the technical aspects. To me, it looked and felt like a TV movie. I’ve come to accept this from Japanese movies from the past 20 years, but it’s disappointing to me that a once vibrant film industry has devolved to such low production values.
Nick: The production did not seem low to me. Do you mean moneywise? Because everything is lit and shot cheaply, but its done so in a very good way.
Nick: The production did not seem low to me. Do you mean moneywise? Because everything is lit and shot cheaply, but its done so in a very good way.
Dustin: I think the director understood the “language of film” and used it well, but the overall production felt cheap. Obviously, this didn’t need to be a big-budget movie. But I would have liked it to look like a movie.
Obviously I wasn’t really offended by this. It’s not like they spent millions of dollars to film at a faster frame per second, only to make it look like a soap opera about dwarfs (The Hobbit).
Nick: One thing I noticed very quickly in one of the first scenes of the film within the film was the scene would cut between multiple cameras, but whenever it jumped out of their film there was never more than one camera. So I’m curious to how they were using one camera, but had so many angles being shot.
Nick: One thing I noticed very quickly in one of the first scenes of the film within the film was the scene would cut between multiple cameras, but whenever it jumped out of their film there was never more than one camera. So I’m curious to how they were using one camera, but had so many angles being shot.
Dustin: Maybe they were trying to create a stylistic difference between what was on the show within the film and what was the real life depicted in the film. It’s also possible they could only afford to use one camera and did their best within that limitation.
Nick: The latter is definitely my position.
Dustin: I thought they were wise to use unknowns in the movie, since recognizable faces would have taken us out, because they characters are all movie extras or newbies climbing from the bottom rungs of their career. I actually own several movies Seizo Fukumoto but I didn’t recognize him. Probably because his parts in those movies were so small. And they’re also like 40 years old.
One criticism I had, though, was the backstory about some love lost in the past. It wasn’t really fleshed out and I didn’t understand it. They brought something from it into the conclusion, but that just confused me even more. I would have liked it better if that was just left out, and maybe we just see the picture of the woman on his dresser without explanation. The audience can guess what the significance was.
Nick: My large criticism is of the third act. It should all be scrapped and replaced with an act that the rest of the movie deserves. There are so many ups and downs in the last 30 minutes that it’s really quite ridiculous. Though I do have a question for you… Did the film fast forward a year or two when I went to the bathroom?
Nick: My large criticism is of the third act. It should all be scrapped and replaced with an act that the rest of the movie deserves. There are so many ups and downs in the last 30 minutes that it’s really quite ridiculous. Though I do have a question for you… Did the film fast forward a year or two when I went to the bathroom?
Dustin: I felt the exact same way when I went to the restroom! I was gone, what, one minute? Ninety seconds? I had no idea what was going on when I got back. The girl had gone to Tokyo and became a star, and there was some dramatic scene with the young actor. I didn’t really recover and had to fill in the blanks in my mind.
Nick: There was so much unexplained and unnecessary needed drama in the last third. Like, why was the young actor you mentioned all up in Kamiyama’s grill? Actin’ like a lifetime of being an extra had given him some pull or something. The movie was stunning until the climax.
Nick: There was so much unexplained and unnecessary needed drama in the last third. Like, why was the young actor you mentioned all up in Kamiyama’s grill? Actin’ like a lifetime of being an extra had given him some pull or something. The movie was stunning until the climax.
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