Based on Keiichiro Hirano’s best-selling novel “Machine no Owari ni”, featuring a rather large budget that allowed Hiroshi Nishitani to cast Masaharu Fukuyama and Yuriko Ishida in the protagonist roles, and to shoot in Japan, Paris and New York, “At the End of the Matinee” had all the prerequisites of becoming a masterpiece. A number of issues, though, prevented it from reaching that level.
“At the End of the Matinee” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
Satoshi Makino is a brilliant classical guitarist who performs at the world’s top concert theaters, but he still is in constant search of musical perfection. Furthermore, he has a captivating persona and is quite popular, although he is not exactly a people’s person, with his only friends actually being his manager, Sanae, and Keiko, the representative of the record label he has a contract with. During one of his tours, he meets Paris-based journalist Yoko Komine, and their attraction is mutual and immediate. However, Yoko has a fiancé and is not exactly keen to leave him. A serious of bombings in Paris are taking place, and Yoko is caught in one of them, although she manages to survive by sheer luck. The loss of a close friend during the explosion and the overall trauma of the experience have her closing up to herself completely, with the distance with Satoshi becoming even greater. He on the other hand, has to face a complicated relationship with his mentor and a lack of will to perform anymore. Their paths eventually collide again and the two are about to come closer, but fate, this time in the face of person quite close to Satoshi, proves an equally high obstacle.
Considering that the basis of the narrative is classical music, a certain level of pretentiousness was to be expected, but, unfortunately, in this case, it goes over the top, essentially permeating the film. The same applies to the melodramatic premises, in a story that goes too far, particularly in the way the obstacles appear in the way of the two protagonists to love, and even more, in the way fate keeps bringing them together. Furthermore, the bombing aspect seems completely misplaced and underdeveloped, the same applies, to a point, to the arc of Yoko’s father, while the almost constant use of guitarist music whose obvious purpose is to draw and intensify sentiment, becomes tedious after a fashion. Lastly, the story draws on for too long at 123 minutes, and considering that the pace is not exactly fast, the whole movie becomes tiring after a point.
These, however, do not mean that the film is without merits. Both Masaharu Fukuyama as Makino and Yuriko Ishida as Yoko give quite convincing performances, with their charisma filling the screen on occasion and their chemistry being quite obvious, particularly in the scene in the cafe, which is probably the most memorable in the whole film. This trait also applies to the second roles, and particularly Yuki Sakarai as Sanae, who highlights her inner struggle and the fake facade she puts on in the best fashion, while Yuka Itaya is also convincing in the role of Keiko
Toyotaro Shigemori’s cinematography is impressive, if a bit too polished on occasion, and the way he highlights the various settings is quite captivating, including the framing of the ones in the opera.
“At the end of the Matinee” has some merits and in general, is quite pleasing to the eyes, but in the end, it is too long, too slow, and the story never actually draws the viewer to its characters.
You lost me at “Considering that the basis of the narrative is classical music, a certain level of pretentiousness was to be expected….” Why?