Droste (2020)

Feel-good time travel story that leaves its viewers smiling.

A seemingly one-take sci-fi comedy that makes up for the lack in budget with creativity and lots of charm.

I had the best time watching this hidden gem. Starring a bunch of actors from a popular theatrical troupe and directed by Junta Yamaguchi, who doesn't have many credits to his name yet. The fact that this movie accomplished so much with so little is what made it so outstanding to me.

Given the time loop setting, it's a bit repetitive at first and takes some time to get into its flow since all characters have to understand the whole concept first. But as the movie progresses it just keeps getting more inventive, hilarious and absurd in the best way possible.

A compelling and whimsical take on time travel shenanigans proving that sci-fi doesn't always need a big budget.

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Christopher Nolan eat your heart out!

This is a great film set around a seemingly useless time warp: a two minute gap between two computers. But it becomes very interesting and funny. None of the mind binding time manipulation of Intersteller or Tenet. This must have been so difficult to script, but the film flows as if it was the most natural thing ever.

During the closing credits we get to see some "making of" footage. Amazing the film was recorded on a mobile phone! And I think there were very few edits.

I look forward to watching it again sometime.

(Seen at Camera Japan, Amsterdam, 2021)

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Although this "Droste no hate de bokura" aka "Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes" predates "River, Nagarenaide yo" by three whole years, I actually watched them in reverse chronological order and at the end I couldn't help but think that this one must have been, like, the director's "rehearsal" before he could finally come up with that masterpiece that is "River,...".
Both works, in fact, share the same fascination with time loops and the technical prowess required to portray them through sequence shots. And of course they are from the same director and share a relevant part of the cast.
I personally think that the story here is just a lil' bit weaker, and the setting a lot less fascinating (let's be honest: beautiful ryokan in the hills around Kyoto beats small family restaurant/café in an anonymous city side street any day of the week!!! ^_^;;;....), hence my grade.
It's still another wonderful movie I can wholeheartedly recommend, though! 9/10

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¿Qué pasaría si pudieras hablar con tu yo del pasado y del futuro?

De eso se trata esta historia, es una película de bajo presupuesto pero con una trama interesante. Una persona de pronto descubre que puede comunicarse con su yo del futuro, no se trata de un futuro lejano, por el contrario solo es una diferencia de dos minutos. Y, a su vez, logra interactuar con su yo del pasado, también a dos minutos de distancia.

Los personajes parecieran enteder muy pronto cómo funciona todo, sin cuestionárselo mucho. El protagonista podría actuar como una especie de razón que se pregunta qué tan correcto es comunicarse con sus versiones del pasado/futuro.

La propuesta es original, es algo distinto y, aunque las actuaciones me parecieron exageradas, comprendo que no es una súper producción. Utilizaron los recursos que tenían y lo hicieron bastante bien.

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