Dir. Tôya Satô , Japan , 2009, 130mins
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Yûki Amami, Sôtarô
Review by Christopher Upton
If you choose to do a graphic novel or magna adaptation these days, it's not like it used to be. Gone are the days of just appeasing the small fan base, now they've gone worldwide; the popularity and hype of Scott Pilgrim has proven this. It's a shame that a lesson wasn't learnt from the failed adaptation of Japanese Magna Death Note , as Kaiji similarly fails to ignite anything but indifference.
Kaiji is a loser. He lives a loser's life, working a dead end job for minimum wage with no prospects romantic or otherwise. To cap all this off he has just found out that thanks to co-signing a loan agreement he now owes a mysterious debt collecting cabal millions of Yen. In order to change this, and to save his skin, they offer him a chance to write his debt off with an evening of gambling to make or break him.
Unfortunately for Kaiji the latter is his destined path and he is thrown underground where the only escape is through a series of escalating challenges. Questioning his manhood and his ability to change his life, Kaiji faces the toughest set of challenges he has ever encountered.
Taken from a Japanese Magna the storyline takes a hard look at the slacker generation but the idea that money is the only important thing is under more scrutiny. The message the old guard offers is that through hard work, determination and ruthlessness money can be grasped, the only route to happiness. The big screen Kaiji 's main failing comes from the fact that it neither condemns this view nor qualifies it as worthwhile. Redemption isn't really on offer here and to a degree there isn't really a lesson to be learnt, and if there is it's hidden in simple rhetoric.
This could come from a failing in translation from book to film, something suggested by the extremely expositional dialogue. Many films have used the device of having the hero or villain reveal the genius of their plan at, or near, it's completion. What most films avoid doing is simply narrating the experience for the viewer. This is made all the more annoying when it is done retroactively, regaling us with tales of what's just happened moments after we have seen it.
Kaiji has a good story at its heart, and an argument about the importance of money in the happiness hierarchy is one that deserves a lengthy running time; Kaiji wastes this time. By confusing the point and using too much exposition this feels at least two times longer than it actually is. The graphic novel adaptation bar has been raised in recent years; Kaiji can't quite navigate across and looks set to take a tumble.
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