One Second Ahead, One Second Behind

A remake of a Taiwanese film, though the niche itself is decidedly Japanese. Romance with a dash of fantasy, it's a rather odd combo, but it's pretty popular and the past decade or so has seen a relatively constant stream of films like this. I'm not the biggest fan, but they're rarely bad, and Nobuhiro Yamashita is an accomplished director.

Hajime is always a bit faster than life dictates. It gets him into all kinds of trouble, but one day he wakes up and can't remember what happened to him the day before. He goes on a haphazard quest to regain his memory. This puts him on the tail of Reika, a girl who's always a beat too slow.

The performances are decent, the mood is light and the setup is pretty funny, even though the rest of the film is rather predictable. Two hours is a bit much, then again, that seems to be some kind of standard for Japanese cinema. Nice filler, with some pleasant moments, but not Yamashita's best.