One Second Ahead, One Second Behind

2023 [JAPANESE]

Action / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Romance

2
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 315 315

remake

720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.08 GB
1194*720
Japanese 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds ...
2.21 GB
1792*1080
Japanese 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by frostbow 9 / 10

One Second Ahead

By now it is clear that there exists a specific subgenre of Japanese romantic comedies or dramas with a small supernatural gimmick, often involving time shenanigans. Maybe the most known examples are the anime movies Your Name and The Girl Who Lept Through Time.Like the title says, this one is about a man with the superpower of acting a second before everyone else, and a woman with the superpower of always being one second behind everyone else, which most of the time is quite crappy. The gimmick is not used for action scenes though, but mostly to set up jokes.A lot of focus is put on the Kyoto setting, with thick accent, local songs, and as many locations and tourist spots as possible crammed in. Furthermore, a lot of jokes based on local customs, and prejudices that different neighbourhoods have about each other. This makes the setting real and grounded. Particularly inhabitants and tourists of Kyoto will probably enjoy it immensely.There are also a lot of jokes about reading kanji the wrong way, in case you like that.Even more peculiar is the plot, which is not too complicated, but has its gimmicks, a few mysteries, and zero plot holes. It unassumingly takes its own path in a way that must have involved very intentional and detailed planning from the screenwriter. So much so that I suspected it to be based on a novel, but after a little research it turned out to be a remake of a Taiwanese movie called My Missing Valentine.An example of the originality is that it neither involves time travel nor amnesia, two tropes endemic to the genre. In my opinion, both tropes are terrible because they create plot holes, reset the character development and makes most of the the story pointless. Just because of this, I will recklessly add a point to the score.The attention to details and the quality thinking stretches into all aspects. Not least in the camera work, with many nice shots that look funny or interesting regardless of the dialogue.Everything is so well polished that the only flaw one can possibly find is that it might feel slow at times. Especially in the beginning, before you understand where the plot is going, and in some later parts, that drag out but still have enough contents to not get boring.The main character Hajime is a lively and rude but sympathetic young man who is good as a protagonist and comical character. He is a little goofy and irritating, but he and the movie in general is not too goofy. It seems that they deliberately did hold back on comedy clichés and overacting. While impulsive, he is reasonably smart, sparing us from drama based on misunderstandings.Even better is the female lead, who really immerses in her peculiar personality, also without overacting. She pulls off the best performance in a scene with just face expressions and two short words. It might be a comedy but it also has a few serious and intense moments and confrontations that almost makes it feel like a drama.But the funniest character is Hajime's mother, played by Hano Aki. Well, all actors did a good job really.Maybe I'm over-praising it. It is just that I have been looking for good love stories for a long time, and it is rare to find one as cute as this.
Reviewed by daisukereds 4 / 10

"Those trivial things no one else cares about"

I'm going to be rather ash about this one.. considering the last half hour is a chore to finish, and I just wanted to move on (things you don't want your audience to experience).The movie feels like 2 really slow hours of inconsequential plots that don't lead anywhere meaningful, and the pay off is the hope a generic romantic relationship between a pair you can't possibly ship together. Sadly, one of the leads is not like the other. One is innocent charming and endearing.. while the other is Masaki Okada, which I find to be a rather poor choice for ANY leading role! Portraying them all in a similar fashion (being borderline-annoying and aloof seems to be his selling points). Kaya Kiyohara is cutesy and the movie would benefit from focusing solely on her character.The plot is painfully predictable. With too many obvious elements and outcomes. And repeating scenes can feel like a waste of time if not done well.. like in this one, which it does a lot and doesn't offer additional context or details to make them useful.And there's the little things a nitpicker like me can notice.. a lack of care and quality ("time-stop" moment where everything supposedly freezes.. yet, while people are frozen and some even float mid-air, clothing and trees inexplicably continue swaying in the wind).In the end, it has nice cinematography, nice places, and interesting ideas poorly used.. and it is too quirky at the beginning for my taste and without much substances. The conclusion is also kind of bad.. good songs, though!
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