Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief Description:
After a car accident renders Igarashi free of his short term memory, he abandons his dreams to become a lawyer in favor of becoming a masked wrestler

Full Description:
That Japanese college students donning wrestling masks and tights to try their hand at flamboyant professional style wrestling would prove entertaining came as no surprise. That it could be touching, heartfelt and emotionally satisfying as it is in GACHI BOY - a very deserving winner of the Audience Award at the Udine Far East Film Festival 2008 - came as a shock of the highest order. Sure to be a huge crowd pleaser as it rolls out on the festival circuit, GACHI BOY is a remarkable piece of work that fully exploits its sublimely ridiculous premise for comic effect while also finding a deeply human heart in the proceedings.

Igarashi seems to have it all. He’s young, cheerful, friendly and blazingly intelligent. Though he still has one full year of university remaining, Igarashi has already passed the bar exam and is well on his way to a career as a high-powered lawyer. But Igarashi has one major problem—a serious accident a year before has left him with no short-term memory. He cannot learn anything new and gets by only with the help of detailed notes and photographs taken every day and left for himself to find in the morning. Clearly his dream of becoming a lawyer is impossible now, so what is Igarashi to do? Become a masked wrestler, of course!

Yes, kids, GACHI BOY is a film that combines the central plot device of MEMENTO and fuses it into a movie that is equal parts cult comedy, underdog sports movie, and power-of-the-human-spirit inspirational melodrama. It's a bizarre fusion that, bluntly, should never ever have been able to work, but my god it does, each part coming together in ways that surprise despite being familiar and the strengths of each disparate element building up the other parts while cancelling out the typical weakness of each subgenre. Yes, the scenario is goofy as all hell - and riotously fun as a result - but the characters are played with such sincerity and charm that GACHI BOY earns every ounce of the emotional high it hits with its climactic wrestling bout.

There's no real need to talk about plot with this film - it hits all the marks you expect any sports film to hit from start to finish - because the charm isn't in the plot, it's in the characters and the young actors who portray them and the equally young director - he's only twenty six - who directs with a confidence well beyond his years. GACHI BOY will draw you in with the wrestling - as it should, the wrestling's a blast - but it'll leave you with the characters you'll want to stand and cheer for for days after seeing it. (Todd Brown)

This film is sponsored by Viz Pictures.

Director Norihiro Koizumi live in person!