Sweet Rain: Accuracy of Death (2008)

Don't Believe the Hype

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The story is about a Grim Reaper, whose job is deciding whether or not the 'subject' is ready for unexpected deaths. The movie is divided into three episodes, first about an OL in her 20s, second about a yakuza in his 40s, and the last about an old lady in her 70s. All the different episodes seem to be unrelated, but connects spontaneously in the end.Although the whole 'Shinigami' thing, which literally means 'death god' or 'Grim Reaper' is very common in Japanese culture, the concept somewhat reminded me of "Meet Joe Black", and the random encounter with other Shinigami reminded me of "City of Angels". However, I was relieved the story focused on the protagonist's gradual understanding of life rather than falling in love with his 'subjects'.It has been a long time since I saw Kaneshiro Takeshi in a Japanese movie. He has been appearing in many epic Chinese/HK movies of late, and it was fun watching such 'S-class' actor in a Japanese film again. He played the innocent and composed personality of his character very well. I really liked the silent dog too. The subtitled conversation really adds to the fantasy in addition to the 'bridge and door'.This film was exceptionally well directed. There were so many memorable scenes and advanced camera-work/angles. Even the special effects, other than the 'touch of death', were amazing considering Japanese budgets.Personally, this movie didn't really make me ponder about life, so it may have failed in that aspect, but it was a story well told.

Many comments compare Takeshi Kaneshiro's role with that of Brat Pitt and Nicholas Cage their earlier movies. To that, I like to add Kaneshiro's own "Lavender" (2000), a movie from HK in which he plays an angle, not the awe-inspiring variety but a rather lovable, playful, mischievous version. Now, in his first Japanese role in the last 6 years, he plays Grim Reaper Chiba whose job is to make contact with "target" human beings scheduled for a sudden death (nothing to do with tennis matches) in 7 days, observe, and make a final judgment of whether to "proceed" or postpone. A few things we notice (or the director makes sure we notice) right away. First, every lead actors needs a side-kick (even Tom Hanks in "Castaway" has a volley ball) to talk to. What Chiba has is a black dog that is fully capable of human speech which, however, is represented by texts on a silent screen. You get used to it very quickly. Chiba talks normally to the dog.There are a few other things. His touch withers plant and stuns humans into unconsciousness. He therefore often wears white gloves. This is also identification for his colleagues of whom we get to meet a few. He has never seen sunshine (which is not the case for his colleagues), for some reason. Yet another trait is Chiba's apparent inability to understand human emotions. This, coupled with some obvious communication problems, create comical situation that range from plain funny to subtly dark. But not understanding Japanese, I'm sure that quite a bit is lost in translation.The movie is one of those three-story setups, but in three different time slots (past, present, future) – three unrelated stories, at least initially. But the hints of the links are all there and I don't think it is the director's intention to craft convoluted twists. The focus is on the mood, the characters and how they interact with Chiba.The first story is about a 27-year-old "OL" ("office lady" in Japan, sort of a "pink collar" worker) whose life has been a total failure. Every time she tosses a coin she always loses. There is a trace of romance here (to the extent that a Grim Reaper who has no human emotions is capable) but the main focus is how this girl grasps that one chance to go after what she really wants from life. For that, she is granted a reprieve the reason being that she has not yet fulfilled the objective of her life.Refreshingly devoid of any repetition, symmetry or similarity is the second story about a mob boss facing a deadly showdown. But although the mob boss is the "client", it's his young protégé that is the true protagonist in this delightful grey (I wouldn't quite describe it as "black" – not going far enough) comedy. The theme here is loyalty and betrayal. The ending is uplifting – against all odds, the mob boss wins the shootout and bonds with the protégé. And there's a good twist in that although he is not killed in the shootout, Chiba takes him in he next day via a car accident, applying the same reasoning, but in the reverse direction – his objective of life has been fulfilled.The final story is futuristic, with humanoid robots that you can't even recognise as such. The robot is a maid to the protagonist, an old women who runs a barber shop in a quaint little house by the seaside. She recognizes Chiba right away for what he is and throws his favourite question – what do you think about death? – right back at him. She also has a strange request, for him to round up all the 7-year-old boys in town for a free hair cut at her shop. Everything eventually has an explanation, of course.That's a general idea. The movie has not become one of the things it might have….thriller, suspense, mystery, Gothic. No, it is gently provoking, lightly teasing, casually amusing. It make no pretense of being profound but makes you think a little. The acting is all fine. The cinematography is pleasing. All in all, it's a movie that can be easily enjoyed.

I watched this film in a sold out theater at the Japan Society in New York and rare is it that I would rather have watched this at home. The audience was laughing out loud at times, which was very obtrusive to me. There are funny moments, but the film is kind of schizophrenic in its approach. The story is about a Grim Reaper (the very good Takeshi Kaneshiro) whose job is to decide whether three separate people live or die. Of the three vignettes, the second, involving a Yakusa, is not good at all. It drags down the film somewhat. The first is very good, the third almost as good, so you have to sit through about a half hour or so of less than good cinema. I find the inclusion of the reaper's companion, the black dog who makes no sound but communicates nonetheless, to be annoying by the end. Also, the reaper is not up on his everyday slang. Why not? Doesn't he follow people around and spend time with them? I was baffled by that. Those lines caused big laughs in the theater, but I found them to be cheap laughs. Now, the film has great moments. The character of Kazue Fujiki is sweet and the third vignette has a little twist which, though I figured it out before it was voiced, was still pretty nice. So, it is a flawed, but worthwhile film. Takeshi Kaneshiro is a popular actor, and I've liked everything I've seen him in. I liked this too, but I felt it was somewhat uneven. A bit of it reminds me of the Nicholas Cage film "City Of Angels" and Brad Pitt's "Meet Joe Black". If you liked those films, this is better. I recommend it, but if you watch it on DVD, consider fast forwarding through the second part. The film becomes a nine, okay?

The first thing that comes screaming to your mind when you come to know of this movie, is MEET JOE BLACK, yes in caps, and a nagging feeling that it's a rip off / copycat coming some 10 years after that Hollywood movie. Although this is based on the Japanese novel by Kotaro Isaka, you can't help but to ponder upon the similarities between the two movies.And it seems that Death / Grim Reaper, besides having a liking for black suits (for obvious reasons), also have a liking for putting on pretty-boy faces. From Brad Pitt to Takeshi Kaneshiro here, the full house today was likely to be attributed to the many fan girls who were squealing their way through the movie each time Kaneshiro appeared on screen. I suspect if Death really looked like that, these girls would gladly spend 7 days with the good looking stranger, only to have him decide if they should fulfill their destiny and die, or be passed-over because of unfinished business. And there'll be a queue that will scream "Take Me, Please!"So the Grim Reaper acts like a judge, taking his limited time in between getting to know the mark, with listening to music in record stores, one of his, and the pastime too of many peer Reapers. Kaneshiro calls himself Mr Chiba, and walks the mortal realm when he's given a mission of assessment, accessed through a door from the nether realms which opens up to the specific location where the mark is. And it really contains no surprise, even right from the start, where you'll know just whose door has Death come knocking upon.Armed with a deathly, though temporal, touch, he has to cover his hands in gloves lest he accidentally puts someone into comatose, which becomes his weapon of choice in self- protection, and the protection of others. And to think that he has roamed our world enough to know the intricacies and antics of us human beings, Sweet Rain still contains enough juvenile jokes when he has to tussle with phrases unfamiliar to him, especially when they have double meanings, or make figurative references, and of course, the fan girls just love it when Kaneshiro provides his puppy dog look when he becomes confused and seeks clarification.As a feature length movie, it's really made up of three distinct acts, and the middle one suffered through a whole emotional and narrative disconnect from the other two, with slow pacing and uninteresting yakuza characters to fill time. The main mark of this movie is Manami Konishi's Kazue Fujiki, a girl who works at the complaints department who is a classic down and out loner with few friends, no objective and goals in life, and keeps getting harassed by this middle aged man over the phone who persists in getting her to answer his queries, and strange requests.I thought the strength of the movie was in the lengths it took to establish Chiba's relationship with Manami, though credit to the story that it wasn't a rehash of Meet Joe Black by the time the ending rolled over. Manami Konishi's portrayal was also a departure from her sprightly turn in Udon, but ventured close to her role in Retribution/Sakebi, but hey, Chiba hit the mark when he said she looked prettier when she smiled, given that she's brooding in the movie most of the time.So I shan't spoil the story by recounting what happened in each act, but suffice to say that this movie is beautifully shot against a backdrop of rainy days which Chiba seemed cursed to work under each time he visits our world, but he's not lonely in his mission with the black pet mongrel who shadows him, and thankfully, doesn't speak out like what Hollywood would do, but communicate telepathically with Chiba, and through subtitles with us mortal folks.