Two of the entries for this year's Eiga Sai are sequels or subsequent
parts to multi-part movie series. For this entry about this
year's Eiga Sai, we'll be talking about the installment that made it to
the festival and any prequels the movie may have. In this case, Tada's Do-It-All House: Disconcerto (Mahoro Ekimae Kyousoukyoku) is the film being shown right now at the festival.
Shion Miura's literary works are no stranger to successful adaptations: books like Feel the Wind and Wood Job (which is also being screened at Eiga Sai) became decent, if not excellent adaptations, and 2013's The Great Passage was a well-received, award winning film. Among the successful adaptations of her books is the Tada's Do-It-All-House series, whose success managed to produce two movies and a TV series. We'll be talking about all of them in this piece.
The first Tada's Do-It-All-House (Mahoro Ekimae Tada Benriken, 2011) is a quirky, deliberately paced film about, well, living life. Set in the fictional town of Mahoro at the outskirts of Tokyo, it tells the story of two thirtysomethings, Tada and Gyoten, who do all sorts of odd jobs, such as spying for the bus company, saving ladies from stalkers, and delivering a boy to and from school, where along the way, the duo learn about their client's own lives. This movie basically serves as an origin story, detailing how the straight-laced Tada and the easygoing, almost whimsical Gyoten met and became partners. Both have sad pasts that they'd rather not talk about, but their backstories get unraveled through their interactions with others.
The film is structured in an episodic fashion, with several slightly related stories presented in segments, truncated by titles displaying the month when the story was set. Tada and Gyoten's clients are a colorful bunch, coming from different walks of life. Mahoro isn't as glitzy or glossy as some of its more populous or urban counterparts. It's pretty run down and rife with seedy bars and crime. Yet life still goes on. In many ways it reflects the state of our two protagonists.
There's a solemn, almost zen like atmosphere of contemplation in this film, mixed with a tinge of black comedy. The movie doesn't sugarcoat or pretend to have a happy ending by feel good moments; it simply presents the plight of the two as it is with surprising frankness for a Japanese film. Life sucks sometimes, but you just gotta keep walking.
The relationship between the two main characters is the focal point of the movie, and it works largely thanks to the capable talents of Eita and Ryuhei Matsuda. Their chemistry is palpable and real, and the two actors play off each other well. While neither Tada or Gyoten would probably admit it, they had a positive impact on each other's lives, if only because it's easier to walk the hard road of life with someone else than going it alone.
The next installment of the series is not a movie at all. Based on the book of the same name, and presented as the 30th in TV Tokyo's late night Drama 24 series, Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi (2013) is a twelve episode TV series. Each episode is around 30 minutes in length, which is shorter than your average j-drama.
The series continues the formula established in the first movie. Tada and Gyoten do various odd jobs with a number of characters, some offbeat, some with tragic pasts. Happy endings are not always a given, bittersweet oft being the flavor of the day. But true to their motto, the duo does whatever they can to help their client nevertheless.
This episodic format really works well on TV, as we usually focus on one client per week. The humor is cranked up a bit here, with Gyoten being the source of most of the comedy thanks to his eccentricities. His unusual insight into things is played up as well, which, in my opinion, adds a lot of depth to his character and provides a more effective foil to the pragmatic Tada. The quality of the episodes is consistent, although there are some really stand out episodes that I loved from the show, namely episodes 2 and 5 as well as the two part finale.
Although many characters from the first movie appear either as regulars or as cameos and although knowing the backstories of the protagonists really enhances one's appreciation of the show, the series can largely be appreciated by itself. All in all Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi is my favorite iteration of the series, and one of my favorite recent j-dramas.
Learning from the lessons of the first film and the TV series, director Tatsushi Omori is far more at ease in directing the latest entry to the franchise, Tada's Do-It-All House: Disconcerto (Mahoro Ekimae Kyousoukyoku, 2014). The film eschews the episodic narrative of the first film and intertwines a number of sub stories into one cohesive plot.
Based on the book of the same name, we start some time after the events of the TV series. Tada and Gyoten are still at it, doing several odd jobs like visiting an elderly woman during her last days, buying groceries and (like the first film) keeping track of bus schedules.
Things are suddenly complicated when Gyoten's ex-wife shows up, asking Tada to take care of her daughter, Haru. Tada then ruminates over how to tell Gyoten that they have to take care of his biological daughter, but even more odd jobs involving a shady cult-like organization and his own burgeoning relationship with restaurant owner Asako stand in the way.
The series continues the formula established in the first movie. Tada and Gyoten do various odd jobs with a number of characters, some offbeat, some with tragic pasts. Happy endings are not always a given, bittersweet oft being the flavor of the day. But true to their motto, the duo does whatever they can to help their client nevertheless.
This episodic format really works well on TV, as we usually focus on one client per week. The humor is cranked up a bit here, with Gyoten being the source of most of the comedy thanks to his eccentricities. His unusual insight into things is played up as well, which, in my opinion, adds a lot of depth to his character and provides a more effective foil to the pragmatic Tada. The quality of the episodes is consistent, although there are some really stand out episodes that I loved from the show, namely episodes 2 and 5 as well as the two part finale.
Although many characters from the first movie appear either as regulars or as cameos and although knowing the backstories of the protagonists really enhances one's appreciation of the show, the series can largely be appreciated by itself. All in all Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi is my favorite iteration of the series, and one of my favorite recent j-dramas.
Based on the book of the same name, we start some time after the events of the TV series. Tada and Gyoten are still at it, doing several odd jobs like visiting an elderly woman during her last days, buying groceries and (like the first film) keeping track of bus schedules.
Things are suddenly complicated when Gyoten's ex-wife shows up, asking Tada to take care of her daughter, Haru. Tada then ruminates over how to tell Gyoten that they have to take care of his biological daughter, but even more odd jobs involving a shady cult-like organization and his own burgeoning relationship with restaurant owner Asako stand in the way.
The film includes characters from both the TV series, such as the aforementioned Asako (introduced in the last episodes of the TV series) and Detective Yoshimura, as well as characters from the first film, such as bus conspiracy theorist Oka and perpetually unlucky boy Yura. While it isn't necessary to see the previous film or the TV show to appreciate this film, I recommend it.
This film explores Tada and Gyoten's respective pasts even more: the appearance of Haru reminds Gyoten of his own experiences with his parents; and to Tada, the little girl serves as a surrogate of sorts to the child he never had. The powerful chemistry between the two leads shines in the film, their personalities having developed over the run of the TV series, with Tada being the straight man and Gyoten being the weird, off beat, 'my pace' kind of person that he is. It also helps that both actors have been in many productions together, so they obviously know how to play off each other.
The film feels a lot more relaxed compared to the first film, which had a few slow moments in the middle of its self contemplation. The humor is played up a bit more despite a number of serious moments. A definite improvement from the first film, Tada's Do-It-All Disconcerto is a worthy entry of the franchise that makes me want even more stories about the quirky duo in the future.
Eiga Sai runs from July 9 to 19 in primarily at Edsa Shangri-la and
at later dates in other theaters in Davao, Cebu and the UP Campus.
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