REEL JAPAN

Score: 10/10

Japanese screenwriter and comedian Bakarhythm takes a story about four ordinary girls growing up in a small city in Japan and injects it with quirky potion of science fiction/supernatural elements to create a landmark in the history of feel-good dramedy. 

Much like his later, and equally great HOTSPOT (2025), REBOOTING starts off with big laughs and small stakes, but the story transforms over time into a quest to redeem and save the people you cherish. It is based on a television anthology story called “Afterlife Real Estate” that he debuted about fifteen years ago and, in both, Bakharythm illustrates a vision of the afterlife and reincarnation that is bureaucratic, sometimes stifling, but ultimately freeing. 

The genius in REBOOTING is in writing and directing exactly the scenes that can be played one or two or five different ways. These reinacted scenes not only advance the plot, but define the characters. It is never boring revisiting Asami’s earlier life because life springs anew. It becomes a story about everything, about meaning, human potential, and ambition. 

Ando Sakura, as Kondo Asami, carries the series ably on her shoulders. Although a major actress for over a decade, I first noticed Ando’s work in GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) as the streetwise and no-nonsense neighbor. She may be best known globally for her co-starring roles in Koreeda Hirokazu’s films SHOPLIFTERS (2018) and MONSTER (2022). She comes from a dynasty of actors and politicians and married into another dynasty of actors, the Emoto family. Ando inhabits every role with a startling tenacity. 

The actresses Kaho, Kinami Haruka, Asami Mizukawa are all excellent as Asami’s childhood friends whose life paths diverge, but subtly, over the many reincarnation cycles. The brilliant Shota Sometani appears in a small but memorable role as Fukuda, their school friend with musical ambitions. Shota’s wife, the Oscar-nominated Rinko Kinkuchi, would later appear in HOTSPOT. The many child actors who perform the younger versions are incredible, especially Nagao Yuno as young Asami. Nagao would later become a precocious filmmaker herself at age eight. 

For those who grew up in 1990’s Japan and came of age in the early 2000’s, REBOOTING will provide a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Universally, it weaves an amusing tale of girls growing up together, and sometimes growing apart, which plumbs the depths of human awkwardness and human potential. 

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