Considering the opportunities social media and video platforms can provide, it is no surprise to see new talents and stories being discovered on platforms like YouTube and many others. In an industry which is at times content rehashing the same idea but with a different surface, it is quite astounding to find new approaches and people being just creative, even though not every short feature streamed on YouTube works fine as a feature film. In 2015, something similar happened to what was supposed to be the anniversary video of Japanese theater troupe 6BanCEED, directed by Kentaro Yamagishi, which showed the members of the group within what looked like an awesome Hollywood-like blockbuster playing various different and colorful characters. When people got to see the outcome of the troupe's effort, they wanted to see the whole film and thus the project “Deep Logic” was started.
“Deep Logic” is screening at Japan Filmfest Hamburg
After his own musical career has failed, Todo (Shun Todo) tries to find opportunities for himself when he suddenly runs into talented street musician Kuryu (Mina Kuryu). Enchanted by her music as well as her appearance, he decides to promote her music and offers to get her a gig at a music hall where he had performed while he was still doing music himself. Besides promoting her career, he also decides to marry her and has already bought an engagement ring when suddenly all hell breaks loose.
Unknown to Todo, several groups have been following and observing the young woman, among them a task force of the Tokyo Police led by Chief Inspector Tsuchiya (Kanehisa Tsuchiya) as well as a group of heavily armed terrorists whose leader UDA (Miki Udagawa) seems to have a special connection to Kuryu. Chased by terrorists and the police, Todo must not only protect Kuryu, but also himself from a seemingly never-ending onslaught of attackers, while also trying to find out what her secret is.
In general, “Deep Logic” is popcorn cinema at its purest and finest. Even though the quality of the CGI gets in the way of things, Kentaro Yamagishi's feature delivers chases, gunfights, explosions and fight scenes in an admirable pace. At the same time, the various characters played by members of the theater troupe are colorful enough to make them interesting, especially since each performer is clearly committed and enjoys playing as crazy, over-the-top characters. Without shame, the movie's aesthetics and Yoichi Matsumoto's script borrow from various branches of action cinema, making “Deep Logic” look and feel like a Hollywood blockbuster in some moments while other moments are heavily reminiscent of the visual madness of Takashi Miike-movies such as the “Dead or Alive”-series
Even though there is no denying “Deep Logic” delivers entertainment, due to its running time it also becomes a bit stale after a while. The various branches of the story, while still offering some comedic and dramatic moments, are clearly there to make the actors shine, but offer very little with regard to the story and often feel redundant. Additionally, the onslaught of action scenes, spiced with the almost stereotypical dramatic reveal becomes tiring after a while, making the rest of the film quite a chore to sit through. It is evident the heart and soul of everyone involved in “Deep Logic” went into this project, but this feature clearly needed a more concise storyline or a more consistent editing job.
“Deep Logic” by Kentaro Yamagishi is a frustrating feature, a story delivering action and entertainment, which becomes tiring after a while. Even though its cast is quite committed, its uneven storyline and lack of concision make “Deep Logic” a deeply flawed film.
