Mind Game

Mind Game – The Value Of Choices

The 2004 movie, directed by a visionary, Masaaki Yuasa, was one chaotic, joyride of a cinematic experience. The movie stands out from the rest, no matter where it's seen, because of its wonderfully expressive art style. A wide colour pallet, combined with dynamic, amazingly abstract animation, adds up to a masterful acid trip-esque experience that hooks you from the beginning and never lets you go. For the entire runtime of this film, I was enjoying myself through and through, something that rarely happens when I'm forced to sit down and pay attention for such a long time.

The movie's art direction was absolutely unforgettable, such stellar animation that I started asking myself why the SAKUGABOORU blog even bothered with their themes if they could simply spend their time dissecting every frame from this film...
It's obviously an exaggeration - I truly mean that I loved nearly everything about how this movie looked, but while the motions were near flawless, the frame rate wasn't perfect. In my opinion, the slight jankiness ultimately contributed to the movie's charm, but it could still be seen as a detriment to some people's enjoyment.

While the visual part of the experience was close to perfection, the story was not lacking either. With the opening treating us to a fast-paced montage composed of the lives of people we don't yet know, for just enough time to make anybody wander about its nature. The movie begins with introducing us to the protagonist Nishiki, and immediately within the first couple of minutes a twist occurred that subverted almost all of my expectations about how this movie would play out. We see the protagonist change his perspective about life, beginning to follow the carpe diem etiquette, and not let his life pass him by for any longer.
To avoid spoilers it's suffice to say that the story takes many unexpected turns along the way, and contains scenes that I will surely remember for a long time... in the positive light of course. Generally, however, the story focuses not on the quite simple message of "seize the day", but rather on the implications that it has on everyday life.
That message becomes painfully clear during the ending, [ this will be a spoiler, and while it's vague enough to not ruin anybody's experience - it is still better experienced by surprise ]: the same way in which the film begun - with a montage - it ends with one. Although, now we know all the characters whose daily lives are contained within these series of events. The compilation of many scenes that seemingly hold little significance, compares different decisions that various characters had to take in their past, and how they could have changed them. We see them abandon their loved ones, choosing their careers over human relationships, and vice versa.

Unlike in fiction, in real life, there are no second chances, and nobody ever gets to attempt the same thing twice, at least not truly. Contained perfectly within the film's main themes, the importance of choices is presented in many ways. Many might shrug the movie off, and pigeonhole it as one of many crazy, abstract, pieces of animation, that only serve to entertain, and have no deeper meaning. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear to see the message that it's trying to make us understand. So everybody - at least try to make the right choices, and never let fear get the better of you. I recommend this experience to anybody not off-put by this peculiar style of animation, if you have two hours on your hands, this is a great way to spend them.
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