Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2012

This clever comedic flick picked up the Best Screenplay award at the recent 15th Shanghai International Film Festival, and rightfully so.

A failure in the acting profession (and vaguely reminiscent of Beat Takeshi’s loser alter-ego in his film Takeshis), Sakurai (Masato Sakai) heads to a sento after being unable to kill himself. There he sees the rich Kondo (the always great Teruyuki Kagawa) fall, hit his head, and enter a state of amnesia. Sakurai switches locker keys and decides to take over his life. At the same time Kanae (an equally always brilliant Ryoko Hirosue) desperately wants to get married. She stumbles on Kondo, thinking he is Sakurai. Meanwhile Sakurai finds himself in hot water with the yakuza as the man whose identity he took had a secret second life as a contact killer.

Kenji Uchida’s previous films have been densely woven thrillers or psychological studies. This comedy hits the all right notes and exhibits precise timing while examining identity. English title: Key of Life (128 min)