YOU ARE THE FILM

****

Directed by Makoto Ueda.

Starring Marika Ito, Kai Inowaki, Riko Fujitani.

Science-Fiction, Japan, 68 Minutes.

Reviewed as part of Tubi FrightFest 2026

Makoto Ueda’s name may already be familiar with FrightFest audiences for his screenwriting works on such quirky and inventive Japanese films such as BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES and RIVER. Where those two films dealt with the motif of recurring time loops in a fun and lightweight manner, Ueda shifts his focus to something more meta for his directorial debut here. The results will no doubt win over fans not only of his previous works and offbeat Japanese cinema, but newcomers to this idiosyncratic talent and his fast and funny musings that fit hand in glove with his genre writing should also be won over by this charming exercise in stretching a fun premise to an often ridiculous, and winning, breaking point.

Marika Ito plays struggling playwright Madoka, blindsided by the confession of her small acting troupe that they feel the need to move onto bigger and better things, Madoka is convinced to go to the small cinema next door to the cafe where she writes for inspiration. Playing at the cinema is a film about struggling musician Kazuma, blindsided by the confession that his fellow band member feels the need to move on. Looking for distraction, he visits the small cinema next to the bar he frequents and plays to watch a film about struggling playwright, Madoka. Realising that they can communicate with each other through the screen Madoka and Kazuma begin to help each other navigate the course of their lives/films and unintentionally risk unravelling any number of multiversal threads that bind everything together.

Comparisons will no doubt be made to Woody Allen’s THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, but Ueda guides the premise into several other strange directions that take in other such genres as yakuza thrillers and sci-fi sagas. At the same time, due to the film's low budget and limited locations, these aspects lend themselves to the increasingly wacky, but never histrionic, stylings of this quite singular film. While low-key in nature and style, there is still an imaginative streak that runs throughout that helps make the pairing of Ito and Inowaki affecting but also making the plot of realising one’s own dreams and ambitions quite relatable to a general audience.

If this swift, funny and mind-bending flick is what Ueda is capable of on such limited means, then surely giving him more resources and a bigger budget is a no-brainer. While it will no doubt go down well with fans of the likes of ONE CUT OF THE DEAD and FISH STORY, this should also serve well as a gateway to Ueda and his singular, inventive style of storytelling. Bonus points also for the prominent placing of an Ardal O’Hanlon poster that further adds to the appealing off-kilter vibe.

Iain MacLeod