I recently attended the screening of the opening film for the 13th Japanese Film Festival in Sydney, The Handsome Suit. The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, with the cinema packed with movie lovers and filled with constant laughter as the film was shown. I found out later that over 90% of the night’s audience thought the film was ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’, and am pleased to say that I was one of the crowd who enjoyed this film tremendously.
The Handsome Suit opens by declaring that there are two types of men: those who are ‘handsome’ and those who are ‘ugly’. The main character Takuro Ohki is very soon introduced. He falls into the ugly category and has not been able to find love because of his appearance. Soon after a pretty young girl Hiroko starts working at his restaurant, he falls in love with her, but he struggles with his feelings for the fear of being rejected. He also soon finds out that he has been picked by a suit company to trial out their new invention: the handsome suit. Once it is put on, a man will immediately become incredibly handsome. When Takuro decides to take up the offer, he begins to live a double life, one as the kind-hearted chef, and the other as an irresistibly charming model…
As a comedy, The Handsome Suit succeeds gloriously. There are many quirky characters, funny dialogues and hilarious scenes. The actors and actresses deliver perfect comic timing, and the laugh-out-loud moments just keep on coming. Like many of the audience I was sitting with, I found myself laughing uncontrollably, so much so that I was actually gasping for air quite a few times.
Both of the main actors, Muga Tsukaji (playing Takuro) and Shosuke Tanihara (playing Annin), gave wonderful performances. I was especially impressed by the performance by Tsukaji, who played the main character of the film. His superb acting made the central character immensely likeable, and one really cannot help but sense and sympathise with his frustrations over his own appearance and desire to be more attractive. The other performance that I became very fond of was by Miyuki Oshima, who played the role of the new restaurant assistant Motoe with calmness and confidence.
It is clear that the director is a talented story-teller. The story itself is not particularly original, but it is being told really well. Besides the many funny scenes, there are some very touching and heart-warming moments thrown in to add some emotions to the film. I love how the development of the relationship between Takuro and Motoe is portrayed. The progression from friendship to affection feels so natural. My favourite scene from the movie features these 2 characters playing a game of ‘capturing happy moments’. It is remarkably beautiful.
The Handsome Suit is a lot of fun to watch. It does not break any new grounds, but for what it sets out to do, i.e. to amuse and to entertain, it does a close-to-perfect job. I do hope our Melbourne readers will get to see this film at their Japanese Film Festival, where The Handsome Suit will be shown as the closing night film.