Funny, funny, funny movie! "Kisaragi" is a hilarious comedy about a 1-year anniversary memorial party for a deceased D-list idol Kisaragi, attended by five men from an online message board. The idol is said to have commit suicide, but one of the attendees suspect someone in this group is the murderer, and finger pointing begins!
The entire movie consists of arguments between these five men in the same room, with couple of imaginary reenactments scenes. It almost feels like watching a stage play. I don't want to spoil, but this movie has one twist followed by another, and the ending is pretty deep, though there was an Otaku-dance that was really stupid. What surprises me most though, is that the scriptwriter actually came up with a story as unique as this one. The setting for this movie is so crazy, and so are the characters, yet completely feasible in real life and their arguments are constructive. The characters' gradual developments were really entertaining for me, and their love toward this D-list idol was beautiful. All five actors played their parts flawlessly.
This movie does feel like a tribute to '12 Angry Men' (1957) at first with the entire story set in a room, and the men trying to solve a case using logical deduction with limited evidence, and coming up with a conclusion that cannot be verified. However, this movie is completely different in that every single character is somehow involved with the person in question, and provides new evidence that completely changes the whole picture.
This is an unique movie that really delivered. This film explores the power of the human imagination, ambitions, and desires. The story was so well-organized and gives us a conclusion that makes perfect sense with the information given. I hope to see another surprising movie like this in the future.
