Cafe Funiculi Funicula is a 2018 live action film based off of the novel written by Kawaguchi Toshikazu. Tsukahara Ayuko directed the story brought to the big screen while Okudera Satoko reworked the content for a script. The film stars, Arimura Kasumi( I Am Hero, Flying Colors), Ito Kentaro, Fukami Motoki, Yoshida Yo, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Matsushige Yutaka, and many more. As of last year, ten million tickets were sold in Japan for this film.
People visit a little coffee cafe at the corner of a little alley because a rumor goes around that if you sit in a certain seat in the cafe, you can travel back in time. There are rules to the time travel though. You must not leave the cafe. You can't change what has already happened in the present. You must drink your coffee before it gets cold or you will be trapped in that time period.
Cafe Funiculi Funicula isn't extraordinary story telling be any means. I'm not sure how good the original story in novel formate turned out but this film pretty music uses the same mechanics that drive other supposed "tear jerker" movies…. Especially Japanese emotional drama inspired films. It doesn't take much to make me cry if the script is smart about what it's doing. Most of the film is deliver in a batch of stories that deal with each customer coming to the cafe to re-vist a time in the past that they regret. These stories aren't amazingly told in a award winning way. In fact, one is just as simple as the one after the other. Not to say that these subplots are a deal breaker for the film, It's the opposite but nothing about these stories are anything new for viewers who have dappled in Japanese cinema before. Things in this film unfold so ordinary that comparisons to the hit drama/films Midnight Diner kept popping up in my mind. Both films use the same methods for story telling and a big portion of the film is spent in the dinner discussion character problems around a cup of coffee. Watching Funiculi is uneventful while still getting to the meat of the situation. Even with all that I just said, Funiculi still kept my interest through the entire film. I believe is was because it has that warmth of humanity that Midnight Diner was a master at crafting into food for viewers. This film's job is to make you feel SOMETHING before the credits roll and it does accomplish this feat…. well, unless you're just a cold hearted person. Feeling the message that it's alright to live the best you can after making mistakes was a great relatable connector for me. I enjoyed the later half of the film the most out of all of what I saw.
The performances were good. Not anything to rave about but the cast do well with what they were given. I'm satisfied but also not super impressed. None of the cast is as fault here. This is what happens when you are given a script as an actor/actress that has no real leg room to expand on the character's growth. Arimura wasn't given too much of a challenge playing this character since it's familiar ground for her. That was kind of disappointing to me.
Some of the sequences are epic to watch. For instance, the sunrise in the scene where the male lead is taking pictures. Purple skies are everything! Also, the time traveling scenes are very well done. I loved the whole set up of these scenes with the water and the pictures representing different periods in time. Plus the main character does get to leave the walls of the Cafe, which shocked me a little bit. [INSERT ME LAUGHING.]
Cafe Funiculi Funicula isn't a god awful film. Depending what you're looking for, the film might hit in all the right places. It's pretty much a time traveling version of Midnight Dinner… If you haven't seen Midnight Diner then I strongly advise you check it out before watching this film.
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