Review of Last Life in the Universe (2003) by Marina N — 29 Jun 2011

Possible SPOILERS:

Seriously, this is one fantastic film. The story, about two entirely different people - who don't really know each other's languages that well - meet under the most unlikely of circumstances, also some of the most depressing circumstances. Kenji (Asano) is a yakuza living (or possibly just stationed) in Bangkok who finds himself very lonely. He finds himself so lonely, in fact, that instead of dreaming up future ambitions for himself, he only fantasizes suicide and what would happen once he was gone - how people would react when they found him, and stuff like that. He is also very organized- and his organization skills and fantasies of suicide seem to be the only things of interest in his life. He's shy and doesn't seem to be the yakuza type really. His brother, also a yakuza, is aware of Kenji's suicidal fantasies and just sort of accepts them- and one day he is suddenly killed by another yakuza in Kenji's house, so Kenji kills the other yakuza, which forces him to leave his home (which he later says is because of the awful smell of rotting bodies). Then he meets Noi who finds him about to jump off a bridge - her sister is hit by a car seconds later and dies in the hospital. Noi takes in Kenji and this sort of relationship develops and eventually becomes romantic. The story goes on from there, with various humorous and emotional conflicts.

The film is pretty bizarre. Not as bizarre as other movies from Japan that are in this sort of poetic genre, but there are some strange moments. However this strange moments - though weird - are entirely understandable. There's a scene where Noi's filthy house gets cleaned up magically, and everything gets organized. This of course isn't really happening, but symbolizes time going by, and gradually Kenji is cleaning her filthy house bit by bit. It truly is beautifully filmed too, so that brings out the lovely artistic feel of the film.

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is how it ends - I won't entirely give it away, but it shows Kenji's development from loneliness to a sense of hope. In the beginning he fantasizes about life, but in the end he fantasizes about life, and that is a sort of maturation of his character's lifestyle and is a great moral and theme to the film.

For ALL movie lovers, this IS a movie you HAVE TO SEE. It is outstanding!