As soon as the lights dim, Ten No Chasuke detonates into hilarious and fascinating existence. Armed with an inimitable concept, Sabu fearlessly dives in with a relentless arsenal of one liners and visual satire.

Epitomising the best of Asian cinema, the added lacing of threads around love, death and life impresses. Sabu clearly identifies himself again as a talent.

However, the writer/director suffers from numerous pitfalls. The second half is noticeably weaker in all areas particularly when the initial novelty of the premise wears off. The latent misogynism, narrow character motivations and meandering end dampen an extremely promising feature.

When it’s good, in the first half, Ten No Chasuke is a rip-roaring classic alive with innovation and humour. When it’s bad, you wished you had stayed in the beginning.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Ito Ohno, Ren Ôsugi, and Yûsuke Iseya

DIRECTOR: SABU

WRITER: SABU

SYNOPSIS: Chasuke (Ken’ichi Matsuyama) is in charge of making tea in heaven. He has feelings for a human woman named Yuri (Ito Ohno) whom he has seen from a writer who is scripting her life from heaven. He knows that Yuri is condemned to die in a car accident. To save the woman, Chasuke goes down to this world.