At the End of the Matinee (2019)

"Machine no Owari ni" watches like a typical Japanese star-crossed lovers film. From the way the plot unfolds very strategically, to the plot devices in the form of characters and life circumstances, and finally, the emphasis on single moments shifting the entire narrative, it checks all the boxes of similar films that have come before it. (The director of this film is also the same person who helmed "Hirugao".) Fukuyama Masaharu and Ishida Yuriko are brilliant actors and carry their characters beautifully - Fukuyama is almost perfectly cast as a famous, and somewhat tortured, classical guitarist - but there's nothing new or particularly fresh about this story or film. Maybe hearing all the main actors speak lots of English and be in Western countries (France, Spain, the United States)? Recommended for fans of "Hirugao" and Fukuyama Masaharu probably more than anyone else.

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