Daigo Matsui is familiar with the festival experience, having presented his previous works in Melbourne and Tokyo and now, he is (virtually) back in Udine with “#HandballStrive”.
“#HandballStrive” screened at Udine Far East Film Festival 2020
An earthquake hit Kumamoto three years ago. A part of the city's population has to relocate in temporary housings. Masao, 16-years old teenager, belongs to those who relocated. He's not sure what he wants to do with his life and self-identifies as a loser. Masao used to play handball but stopped around two years ago. One day, he posts on his Instagram a picture of him playing handball. The picture receives a lot of likes. With his friend Okanoto, they establish an almost-brand: #HandballStrive. Supporting them means supporting people living in temporary housings. It's a feel-good story users want: the small team from the small city going through difficulties and having an overall experience that makes them stronger. Once the ‘brand' is established, the two friends manage the Instagram account like marketing specialists. Little by little, they get caught up in their embellished truth/social media reality.
The pitch forecasts a social comedy, with a touch of coming-of age narrative. And the contract is honored. Despite losing a bit of pace and strong narrative elements once the crisis hits, the story stays overall coherent and well-built.
Although being a bit moralistic (“live your live in reality and not through your phone lense”) – even if not too obviously stated – the movie highlights how powerful social medias are and how they can also be used for good. There would be no team at all if not Instagram. The ambiguity around social media can be understood: it's not all good, not all bad, and needs to be used with some critical mind. This is enjoyable, and the feature is not purely about social media.
Daigu Matsui's previous experiences directing adaptations of mangas can be felt, as the feature has hints of mangas/animes, notably with pop colors, exaggerated reactions and borderline jokes. That experience is actually an advantage, as it definitely gives a hint of enjoyable craziness, and the mangas/anime codes are mastered by Matsui.
All the actors (Seishiro Kato, Kotaro Daigo, Haruka Imou, Aju Makita) give honorable performances, where they manage to merge this caricatural aspect, with a more ‘reality-like' aspect.
Despite its ‘maga-esque' aspect, the film also uses more ‘purely cinematographic' visuals, and infuses a bit of social questioning (the housing, social media, poverty, foreigners, etc). The visual aspect of “#HandballStive” is worth noticing. Indeed, the insertion of social medias/the various virtual ways we currently communicate, see, and shape the world is well-handled, somehow intuitive, and smart.
“#HandballStrive” is enjoyable. The visual insertion of current various communication channels is particularly a success.
