Almost 10 years passed between my first attempt at watching this movie and my second, and while I had rated it a 2.5 the first time around (after passing out, late at night, unwilling to invest in it), the problem wasn't the movie - it was me. I think I, like a lot of viewers, was ready to hate this film simply because Tom Cruise isn't Japanese; call it the "But I don't get it, how in the heck could HE be a Samurai!?" effect. What it is, though, is a historical epic about an American who gets a glimpse into a changing Japan. It's well shot, decently paced, and superbly choreographed - with the exception of one WWE-style body slam in the battle scene - and in the end, the only knock against it is that the premise seems rather flimsy. There's this thing called "the willing suspension of disbelief" that all art requires, though; it's not a documentary, nor was it meant to be, and if you're still hung up on factual accuracy, just watch it for Ken Watanabe's Oscar-nominated (Oscar-worthy!) supporting performance. It's basically just "Dances With Wolves: Japan," but some of us call this sort of movie "entertaining popular film." I think it's been horribly misjudged... I kind of loved it.

This movie made me feel broken, like I had suddenly woken up old and alone. It manages, somehow, to tell that "scuffling twenty-somethings" story in a way that feels fresh and vivid and honest, and merges this plot with a concert film. It made me long to be young and sexy and free and to lose myself in a rock show, specifically a rock show at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, where I haven't seen a show in at least five years, somehow. And while I'm trashing my own Toronto cred, I'll say that my general indifference to Broken Social Scene (what? But they're FROM Toronto...) didn't stand in the way of enjoying the movie. I think where it succeeded with the often-precious "entry to adulthood" story was that it took a less-is-more approach, punctuating the telling moments - a sort of short-hand plot - with cuts back to the concert. And hilariously: only Canadians will understand this, but the parts in which Bruno (Greg Calderone) is using his smartphone are totally riffs on the Rogers (telecom company) commercials he's been in for the last few years. Literally, Bruce McDonald has imbued those annoying Rogers kids with souls. I did struggle with the ending - it didn't strike me as the likeliest outcome - but what's been assembled here (possibly from two half-finished, abandoned, or "broken" works...?) is another gloriously messy film from one of Canada's best directors. How messy? McDonald shot it during Toronto's ridiculous public workers' strike of 2009, when parks became dumpsites out of necessity during one of the hottest recent summers. It felt important that this was committed to film; in fact, it felt important that a lot of what Toronto is was committed to film, here. A real surprise - I wasn't ready to like this movie, but it hit me right in the gut. It could be my hometown bias or the fact that I just turned 30 talking, though...

Didn't disappoint - full review coming soon!