Last Updated on September 30, 2020 by rob
A broke and struggling actor named Takeshi (Masato Sakai) seizes the chance to swap his identity and home with middle-aged assassin Kondo (Teruyuki Kagawa) after an accident in a bath house leaves the latter with amnesia. As Takeshi settles into Kondo’s luxurious pad a bewildered Kondo, who’s now living in Takeshi’s hovel, begins a relationship with emotionally repressed businesswoman Kanae (Ryoko Hirosue). But when Kondo’s employer requests another kill Takeshi’s exposure as a fraud looks to be the least of his worries. Meanwhile Kondo and Kanae decide to marry. Then, suddenly, the assassin regains his memory…
With this, his third film, director Uchida might be in danger of becoming a one trick pony, but when the trick is as entertaining as this I’m not sure it really matters. Deeper, thematically richer and more ambitious than 2005’s not dissimilar A Stranger of Mine, this is a rollicking comedy-drama in which a series of coincidences bring a group of complete strangers into each others orbit and it boasts three superb performances from its principals. The standout for me being Teruyuki Kagawa’s alternately scary and touching turn as Kondo, a sort of Japanese Keyser Soze whose mere name evokes fear and trembling within the underworld but whose post-amnesiac existence proves unexpectedly moving. But nothing in Uchida’s world is quite what it seems and so it proves here as character, story and tone (the moment when Kondo remembers his real identity is brilliantly staged with the simple expedient of a shadow on a wall) are gleefully juggled by its talented writer/director.
At 128 mins one could argue this runs a bit long but looking back I can’t think of a single scene I’d want to lose. Uchida clearly loves his characters and wants to do fair by them and the thematic point he’s going for – that love and success only come when you follow your instincts – are as heartfelt and sincere as they are hilarious (and as with A Stranger of Mine there’s a post-credits scene here that is an absolute hoot). Key of Life never goes for the cheap gag or pratfall. Its humour stems entirely from the absurdist situations its characters are put into and Uchida is better than any other contemporary writer I can think of at hiding the contrivances necessary to make the plot work so that it all seems to stem quite naturally from the characters themselves. This really is first class stuff and if you can find it I highly recommend it (as indeed I do A Stranger of Mine).
