My Cultural Diet

Junta Yamaguchi’s Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes was a delightful riff on the time loop genre. Apparently he figured if it ain’t broke, than why fix it and decided to make yet another time loop film. This time, however, the staff and guests of a picturesque riverside inn find themselves caught in a two-minute time loop. You’d think the constant repetition would get tedious, but to the credit of Yamaguchi and his cast — who are members of the Europe Kikaku theatrical troupe — the resulting film is quite winsome as the staff tries to comfort their guests, and various characters use the time loop to work out personal problems (like the author who sees the loop as a respite from his pressing deadline). River does get bit slight, and the eventual revelation of the time loop’s cause feels out of sorts with the naturalistic tone. Even so, it’s hard to dislike a film this charming. It doesn’t hurt that the riverside setting at Kyoto’s Fujiya Inn is absolutely gorgeous — I definitely want to go to there — as is the digital cinematography.

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