
Sometimes, actually more often than not, a visual powerhouse simply can’t be adequately reviewed or described through words. This is why I’ve presented a barrage of different screenshots from the movie, which should say an endless amount regarding the visual audacity and innovation of Mind Game; as a reminder, these screens are nothing compared to the uniqueness when in motion. Few movies are as surrealistically captivating and thought provoking as this one, and fewer animations succeed at this, though there’s never a shortage of interesting Japanese anime.
The narrative is so incredibly fragmented that the ideological nature of Mind Game seems to jumps around as frequently as does the style of animation, which is not the case. The narrative could be described as being cyclical in nature, since it ends where it begins, though there are some slight alterations, and returns to previous events several times during the course of the movie — trying to discuss such an elliptical movie in terms of conventional plot structure would be an exercise in futility.

However, after watching the movie carefully, and contemplating several other theories, the movie certainly works as an epiphany of the yakuza character, which I only partially worked out as at the end the plot elements are revealed to actually be a dream. As pretentious as the title Mind Game sounds, there really is an intelligent design at play in this movie, which is much more profound and humanistic than it originally appears to be. Whereas many movie analysis reviews tend to be farfetched, I think this one is pretty reasonable, but please feel free to gather your own interpretations that don’t necessarily coincide with mine.
It took me two viewings to grasp this entirely, but the opening montage is actually told in a linear, albeit rapid, fashion, entirely chronicling the entire film up until the opening shot of yakuza man. Because everything seems straightforward upon close attention, I’ll merely elucidate plot details now, and describe my personal feelings towards them after the ***** separation. Since the rapid pace of the montage is hard to follow, I’ll include screenshots of key shots and go through the events individually up until the story commences.
Then, there’s plot of the movie which is actually entirely a dream — I mean everything involving Nishi’s adventure. It’s very obvious, not simply a nonsensical hack theory, because at the end of this story, when they all finally escape the whale, the shot quickly cuts to the yakuza man waking up rather startled where the story started; this is what I mean when the story is cyclical, because the story ends where it started, yet now it will be completely different than the turn of events presented, which is why ‘the story never ended:’






























Then, Mr. Yakuza wakes up and he makes his final, right decision.
****************************************


When Myon first tells tells Nishi that she is contemplating getting married to a man we will soon meet in the restaurant, he declares how much he loves her, and then she hugs him claiming that they should be together. Of course, it soon cuts to the realization that this was one of those mental, hypothetical situations that Nishi purely imagined; I’m sure we’ve all had those daydream moments, which first allowed me to relate to Nishi as a character.

Just a little bit later, after an enraged Atsu and yakuza enter the restaurant, Nishi is shot through the rear up to his head by Atsu, which kills him instantly. After watching a recording of his embarrassing death, he meets God. I really love the concept of God continually shifting in form based on the perception of whoever is seeing him — not that it has much to do within the story. What I think does work within the context is that God has claimed to have created people for his own amusement, and that once dead, people simply disappear into nonexistence; this probably sets up Nishi’s desire to live again, knowing that every moment counts because it is the only time he has. So he races towards the blue life portal, opposed to the bad red one, so that he can live again, and the cheetah-formed God practically motivates him into doing so. Nishi them proclaims that he will live to the fullest, but the real change of heart is alluded to in the first shot of this review, which basically suggests that one can shape one's own future. Time can’t actually be altered — Mr. yakuza comments that he wish he had a magical belt like ‘time man’ — so Nishi is perpetuating the same theme that life has to be taken in the direction that he wants it to go, at any cost.
So he’s alive again, gun pointing at his rear. This time, he disarms Atsu and blasts him through the head, grabs the car keys from Mr. yakuza, and has a high speed chase with the whole team of yakuza. It’s here we learn of the crime boss who adopted Atsu into his care to work as a member of the yakuza. This is possibly the most exciting car chase I have ever seen in a movie, which is saying a lot. One of the yakuza drivers has a quick flashback where he remembers a pet bird who died, presented with a halo; this is like a second of foreshadowing because as soon as the flashback finishes, his car crashes into oblivion; I just love the insertion of these trips into the consciousness of the characters, such as a similar one where Nishi attempts a driving move he watched in a movie.
So they, because Myon and her sister were brought along, drive off the bridge and get eaten by the whale. With Nishi’s newfound optimism, he is practically unfazed at first. They also meet the old man, and his stories reveal that he is the father of Mr. yakuza, well at least for those who managed to pay extremely close attention. Nishi begins saying that he’s losing his faith in humanity, and inane little things that frustrate him because of his isolation. This is a reflection of how he was isolated before he experienced his change of heart. In a very brief clip, so subtle that you could easily miss it among the later montage, Nishi is serving customers in a store, but they are blank-faced, dehumanized people, until they are illuminated with faces; this is definitely great juxtaposed with Nishi’s desire to see the world again, further representing his new perspective on humanity. At one point he declares that he doesn’t care if he’s a loser, but that he simply wants to be part of the greater human scheme, after being isolated inside of the whale, and also from everyone beforehand.

Escaping the whale is probably the climax of the movie. Inside of the whale, Nishi couldn’t direct his life in any dimension possible, which explains his metaphorical desire to get back out into the world. After they all finally manage to boat, swim, and run out of the whale, they witness a marvelous city view. Nishi is watery-eyed after having witnessed it again, and the endless possibilities. Then enters a montage depicting different people, which puts the whole life decisions concept into perspective when it very briefly chronicles the life of an architect backwards. Then, after we see Nishi’s perspective again looking at the city, it projects possible futures on all of the four characters. It conveys tons of different possibilities for each individual character as a result of any of them living their lives in any way they choose.
Then Mr. Yakuza wakes up, and, after Atsu leaves, and this time misses the train Myon barely caught, drives to meet Myon’s mother instead of attempting to take revenge on her former husband, representing an entire change of character, as he symbolically rejects his murderous lifestyle to leave. The dream serves as an epiphany since after witnessing Nishi’s ultimate decision to take personally driven direction in his life, and his awareness of all the possibilities, Mr. yakuza manages to take an alternate course of direction.

Then there’s one final montage, which appropriately reaffirms the cyclical nature of the story because it starts with the same first montage illustrating everything up to the beginning, or end, of the story. This one is coupled with more possible directions of the characters, including several of the supporting characters who weren’t evident in the previous montage. Also present are notable world events, many of them twentieth century milestones, though it all inclusively shows several negative events including a murder which only adds to the theme that all roads are available to take. The ‘this story has not ended’ finale references that most people in modern society are certainly able to take complete grasp of their malleable lives, and shape themselves and their course in practically any manner. Even within the context of the movie this is applicable because the never-ending possibilities for the characters ensures that there isn’t really ever an ending.
Don’t think I need to say much about the animation, because of all the screenshots, but it’s rare to see any film, or animated film, implement a myriad of techniques like this movie does. Dozens of styles of animation are used, and along with the tradition Japanese animation there is rotoscope, numerous forms of computer animation, sketches, and other drawing mediums. The musical score is also great, and is equally varied. There are loud, pulsating drums, soothing Spanish music, modern Japanese songs, and traditional classical music all utilized throughout the movie, making for a more enhanced, interesting experience.
Really, I could go on for pages and pages on why I love this movie, but at that point I would be being repetitive and not really saying much. This is really the sort of movie that could easily change someone’s life, or at least inspire someone to make advantageous changes. It’s extremely thought provoking, entertaining, and even very emotionally powerful; pretty much everything I could want in a movie was delivered. I rarely rewatch movies, even ones that I really love, and can never remember rewatching a movie two days after watching it the first time, but I did just that with Mind Game. This will probably be received best by fans of Mulholland Drive and similar movies, though I recommend this to everyone. I’m sure plenty of people won’t consider it such an amazing movie as I, but it’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.























































































































