From the director's statement: Three days at the end of the year. Instead of having a year-end party, we got together to shoot a movie. I had buried a time capsule with my friends, but we forgot about it and never dug it up, so I decided to make a movie about what happened after that.
Midnight Moratorium is streaming on TodoiF
As such, the 23-minute short focuses on 5 friends, Namba, Gonda, Tokimitsu, Nishikawa, and Okada, who were a close group during high school, and decide to hold a small farewell party on their way home from the funeral of their leader, Maiko Matsumoto. They start to drink, and their initial worries have solely to do with whether ‘kampai' is a proper word to use, considering this is a funeral. Some of them get drunk, while another one mentions a girl from the group that she is missing, and who has mentioned, the last time that he saw her, about the time capsule they have buried at the end of their school days. They decide to go and search for it, and within it, they find the deceased's diary.
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As in all of his movies, Teppei Isobe creates a rather appealing atmosphere, this time by having a reunion of sorts, which does not focus, as usually in this type of movies, in the past and present of the group, but more on the death of Matsumoto and eventually the particular time capsule. Considering that a number of the participants are drunk, the discussions soon become somewhat funny, while a much needed change of scenery takes place as soon as they decide to go look for the time capsule.
Also of note is the fact that Isobe does not present his story in linear fashion, but mostly through flashbacks, in an approach that works quite well here, essentially adding a subtle sense of mystery about what is going to happen. This sense is heightened by the night sequence in the field, which is the most visually impressive in the movie.
Regarding context, one could say that the message here is that sometimes, some things are better left buried, with the respect of the privacy of others also emerging as a value, although in a more humorous way, with the ‘fire' in the end being probably the most memorable scene.
“Midnight Moratorium” is another testament to Isobe's filmmaking abilities, a film that is equally well-shot and easy to watch.
