The list of films that I have compiled for my short film/feature film pairings are very scant when it comes to the Asian continent. This changes tonight. Although the short film Shaking Tokyo is the only Asian film out of the fifty-two chosen, it is still a good one. Due to my temporary agoraphobia and the fact that each day has seemed to meld together in a blur of the same thing over and over again, I bring you Shaking Tokyo by acclaimed director Bong Joon Ho and Groundhog Day by the late great Harold Ramis.
Boon Joon Ho was asked to be a part of a film tryptic about a subject, much like Allen, Copolla, and Scorsese did in 1990. The subject, one could argue the star, is Tokyo. The star is a peripheral character as the desert was for westerns. The film starts out with a roll of toilet paper being finished and the introduction of a hikikomori, a shut in. He has been living on his own stacking his refuse and supplies in his cramped apartment. Only getting the necessities of life through delivery, never looking people in the eyes, he leads a depressing life; a life full of routine. He receives pizza once a week. Every Saturday. He receives the money he needs via the post, and lives his life in a box, much like the pizza boxes he stacks along a bare wall. When he notices that the pizza delivery man is a woman, he looks up. They make a connection. The ground starts to shake. An earthquake. Immediately the woman collapses and remains motionless. The hikikomori tries to revive her comically. He notices a series of tattoo buttons on the woman with accompanying English explanations, and upon looking up the Japanese translation of the explanations, he is able to the revive the girl. And as quickly as she came, she disappears. He tries to order pizza in hopes to be delivered to by the intriguing pizza delivery woman, but to no avail. The pizza delivery man explains to the hikikomori that the woman had quit the day before. She, becoming a hikikomori. How is an agoraphobic man supposed to go and reach out to an agoraphobic woman he has become attracted to? After a brief questioning, the man decides to leave his apartment. Once out of his element and into the elements of outside, the man starts to doubt his decision, but decides to press on. His positive self-talk allows his to follow the directives he is telling himself to do in his head. As he explores the city he has cut himself off from ten years prior, we find that the entire city has become agoraphobic. Now the streets are barren. Now robots deliver pizza. The man finally finds the woman who has just applied a new button tattoo. The man tries to coax the woman out of her apartment exclaiming, "If you don't come out now, you never will." She shuts him out and another earthquake hits the town. People come out of their house, out of their apartments only to slowly creep back into their lodgings after the earthquake has ceased. The man finds the woman has left and tries to keep the girl from re-entering her apartment like the others had. He presses the new tattoo button: Love. They stare at each other as the scene shakes to a black screen.
**
I decided on Groundhog Day in January about a month before the great Harold Ramis passed away. His movies have been a big inspiration on me, and I have come to cherish him as time has gone by. For my tribute to him, I give you Groundhog Day. Now I am not going to bore you with the plot of the film, because we know it. We love the film, right? What's not to love. This is what one would classify as an existential comedy. And by one, I mean me. I would consider it as such. This is a story of a man being forced to live the same day over and over again. The thematic elements between this film and Shaking Tokyo are frequent. Desire for finding love. Alienation either voluntary or involuntary. Repetition of routine.
The great work of Bill Murray is undeniable in this film. He starts on a journey and ends in a completely different place. Growth takes place. He starts out with his iconic snark that oozes throughout the first few scenes. As his situation starts to mount in from of him, his snark turns to panic and denial. And, in fact, the Kubler-Ross model of grief could be applied to Phil Conner's transition throughout the film. The loss he is experiencing is the normalcy of life. Phil has an existential crisis. "What would you do if you were stuck in one place and everything was exactly the same and nothing you did ever mattered?" The Sisyphean circumstances causes Phil to reflect on life, existence, and the universe. It causes him to self-reflect on himself, what's really important, love, and improving oneself. Time is relative and infinity is a long time. One of the most poignant scenes for me is when Phil suggests that he is a god. He theorizes that maybe god is god because he's been around long enough to know everything. He goes on to explain in detail each patron of the cafe, and goes on to "predict the future." The end of the scene is very touching as he talks about Rita with such sincerity, warmth, and love. It usually makes my misty. Though he contemplates his potential divinity or approval of deity to allow him to relive the same day over and over, he is confronted with mortality with the death of the beggar. No matter how hard he tries, the old man dies. Upon giving the old man CPR in the alley, the man breathes his last breath and we see it. Phil then looks heavenward, as if to say "Why?" After Rita stays the night, Phil enters the acceptance phase of the stages of grief. He develops an insatiable appetite to improve himself and to accrue skills not just for the betterment of himself, but for the woman he woos each day. He also embarks on the assistance and service to others. One comes to two realizations of Ramis' intended message for the audience. The first is that we all have those spans of time where routine seems to suck the fun out of life and living. Where it seems like we are reliving the same cycle over and over again, but it will benefit us if we allow ourselves the ability to go about the natural course of events through the day with happiness, acceptance, and love. As well, we should strive to improve ourselves. To increase in knowledge. To increase our skills, because we are full of potential. The second is to share with others. To help other people and give service. To a person with a religious background, this film can have theological implications, but things can be gained from any viewer, regardless of religious background (if any).
There are some amazing bits of comedy that, after over a dozen views, continue to make me laugh. The montage of suicides is hilarious, particularly Bill Murray's choice to open and close his hands before he gets run over. His imitation of Larry's eating habits was chortlingly funny. Phil trying to re-position himself in the exact spot that almost got Rita and him to kiss the previous Groundhog Day was so funny. A special shout out to Stephen Tobolowsky and his Needlenose Ned character. Plus dozens and dozens more little bits that were just outlandishly funny.
I love that a young Michael Shannon is in this film. I love the existential tones of the film. I don't like the horribly stained teeth of the two leads, but I love this movie. There's comedy, warmth, confusion, sweetness, sadness. It's a fantastically made film. Bill carries this movie. He is a joy to watch. The movie is a joy to watch. This film was added in 2006 to the U.S. Film Registry for its impact to society and its artistic relevancy and it's so clear to see why. This film remains one of my favorite films of all time and one of the few movies I watch every year. At the end of the day, I got you Groundhog Day, I got you Groundhog Day, and baby, you got me.
****1/2
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