Fine, Totally Fine   Starring: Yosiyosi Arakawa, Yoshino Kimura and Yoshinori Okado Third Window Films RRP: £14.99 TWF013 Certificate: 15 Available 11 May 2009

Teuro Tohyama (YosiYosi Arakawa) is just shy of his thirtieth birthday and still harbours dreams of building the world’s first hardcore horror amusement park, but mostly he hangs out in his father bookshop, creating all manner of gross horror effects in his spare time. He drifts lastly through his life with the help of his clean-cut friend Hisanobu Komori (Yoshinori Okada) who has a sensible job as a hospital administrator. Their backwater life is changed when the demurely attractive Akari Kinoshita (Yoshino Kimura) comes to work in Teuro father’s store, following a disastrous stint at Hisanobu’s hospital, her quirky manner quickly has both men fall in love with her...

Fine, Totally Fine (Zenzen Daijobu (2008) - 1 hr, 50 min, 27 sec) is an oddball comedy from writer director Yosuke Fujita, in his debut movie. Comedy is a difficult thing to do at best and for a cross cultural comedy the path is even thornier, but Fujita has pulled off a minor miracle with this indie film. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but the rougher edges are more than balanced out by the humour and the acting of its central cast. Arakawa is blessed with one of the most valuable of comedic tools a funny face, which even at rest seems to reflect his bemusement with the world. And herein lies the film's strength, it’s not in the laugh-out-loud set pieces but in the minute exploration of three dysfunctional misfits, the comedy derives from the characters rather than the situations.

As the film progressed I did find myself warming to these three and ultimately you really do find yourself caring what happens to them. The film also pulls off that most difficult of things; a satisfying ending.

The film is presented in Japanese with option English subtitles. The movie does come with some extras in the form of The Original Theatrical Trailer (1 min, 52 sec) and interviews with Yosuyosi Arakawa (10 min, 44 sec) and Yoshinori Okada (9 min, 02 sec) which displays their enthusiasm for the film and their roles. The disc rounds up with three Third Window Trailers.

If you haven’t exposed yourself to the minor tide of bizarre comedies coming from our eastern cousins then you’re missing a real treat.

7

Charles Packer