Movielogr
Come and Go (2021)
Directed by Kah Wai Lim
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
Tourists, foreigners and outcasts converge on the streets of Osaka in this sprawling ensemble drama by Japan-based, Malaysia-born filmmaker Lim Kah Wai. His eighth feature explores the lesser-known aspects of the Asian melting pot city through the eyes and experiences of a dozen characters who struggle to find their place in society: among them a Nepali refugee with dreams of opening a restaurant, a Burmese student struggling to make ends meet while working two jobs, and a Taiwanese sex tourist who travels to meet his favorite adult video actress.
Length 158 minutes
Actors
Lee Kang-Sheng | Manami Usamaru | Lien Binh Phat | Makiko Watanabe | Seiji Chihara | Mousam Gurung | Nang Tracy | JC Chee | Jakujaku Katsura | David Siu | Shogen Itokazu | Lee Tae-rim | Orson Mochizuki | Gouzi | Suzu Honjo | Nobu Morimoto | Nagiko Tsuji | Chieko Misaka | Ryushin Tei | Takuma Nagao | Yuki Kitagawa | Chise Niitsu | Yuki Tayama | Nanaho Otsuka | Jin Arai | Aya Sakura | Eva Hadashi | Hiroyuki Toritani | Tadashi Suzuki | Masahiko Aoki | Kouki Okayama | Mineko Okukubo | Liuming Mizuno | Jinya Futamura | Mari Tanabe | Seikoh Yoshida | Manabu Kurita | Hironobu Tanaka | Jun Amanto
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/02/2021 | TV | Streaming | Video on Demand | 6 stars |
| (Average) 6 stars |
Viewing Notes
The second movie I’ve seen at JAPAN CUTS 2021 about a bunch of different people living in a city dealing with their own issues and sometimes their stories cross. The other was SPAGHETTI CODE LOVE. Whereas that film was full on misery porn (everybody having a bad day or hating themselves, etc) this one is all over the place with very little in the way of connective tissue other than being set in Osaka, the Umeda area. Neither film really nails down a satisfying conclusion but this one really has no ending. And tbh it really meanders in the final chapter, the fifth chapter or so of this overly long movie.
All that said, I was engaged with some of the storylines and characters. It was neat to see Lee Kang-Sheng in a non-Tsai Ming-liang film for a change. And I like his story arc (he visits Osaka to meet an AV idol and visit porn shops). But even his story has no ending. None of them do and we’re left to just wonder what happened to these characters.
I also like that it’s set in Osaka and in particular an area unknown to me (over the usual tourist spots like Dotonbori or Shinsekai). Had the characters not mentioned Osaka I would not have known which city this was b/c nothing here looks familiar, except one shot of the Umeda Sky Building, which I did see when I was there. So that was a plus in addition to the variety of ethnicities. There’s Japanese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Korean, Nepalese, Mandarin and English spoken with characters from Malaysia, Taiwan, Beijing, S.Korea among the others already living in Japan. A very melting pot type of movie that the director stated in his intro.
Even tho this movie doesn’t quite work it is nice to see this mix of characters interacting in a place like Osaka. For that reason I give a favorable rating. And the film touches on very Japanese things like love hotels (which the other movie did as well) and hostess clubs and the AV industry. So yeah it was interesting to view but doesn’t earn that 2.5+ hour runtime.
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