Baburu e go!! Taimu mashin wa doramu-shiki (2007) User Reviews

Party like it's ...1990

[jmaruyama · 6/10 · 6 August 2007]

While pop icon Prince sang about how he wanted to party like it was "1999" in the 80s, I reckon some Japanese lament about how they used to party in the early 90s during the height of their "Bubble Keiki" (Bubble Boom).

1990 seems like only yesterday, but in Baba Yasuo's silly yet entertaining "Bubble E Go: Time Machine Wa Drum Shiki" (AKA Bubble Fiction) it seems like a fond memory to the Japanese. The early 90s were a great time to be in Japan - unemployment was almost nil, banks were loaning money at ridiculously low interest rates, property values were sky high, company bonuses were huge, tight "body-con" dresses, super mini skirts and permed hair were all the rage and the yen value was at an all time high.

Of course the "bubble" era (1986-1990) would burst towards the late 90's and Japan would plunge into a deep recession from which they are only just now beginning to recover from.

Taking a page from Robert Zemeckis' influential "Back To The Future" series, "Bubble Fiction" is a time-traveling, Sci-Fi comedy that waxes nostalgic about the Bubble Keiki of economic prosperity and decadence that Japan experienced during that time and how many Japanese long for a return to that happiness.

The story begins in the present and revolves around the recent reported death of a brilliant genius, Tanaka Mariko (80's Kadokawa Film Heroine Yakushimaru Hiroko) who was a home appliance technician and amateur inventor. This couldn't have happened at a worst time for her troubled daughter Mayumi (the fetching Hirosue Ryoko), whom had recently come back home to live with her after a particularly bad romantic breakup. Mayumi's previous boyfriend had borrowed money from Yakuza loan-sharks and fled, leaving her to pay off his enormous mounting debts. Forced to take various odd jobs (including a hostess at a Ginza Bar) to pay off the debts, she is continually hounded by a particularly persistent "chimbira" (Yakuza underling) Tajima Keiichi(Gekidan Hitori) who oddly enough was a former bank employee until his bank went bankrupt.

Mayumi is soon visited by a mysterious "Zaimushou" (MOF-Ministry of Finance) officer, Shimokawaji Isao (Abe Hiroshi). He tells her that her mother is not dead but rather stuck in the past (in the year 1990). It seems Tanaka Mariko had developed a time machine (built within a drum/cylinder washing machine - hence the title) and had gone into the past to try and convince then-Finance Minister Serizawa (the great character actor Fukiishi Kazue) to reconsider his disastrous policy decision that plunged the economy into ever increasing debt.

Shimokawaji and his team had determined that Mayumi's similar body type to her mother (and same genetic DNA) make her the only one that can use the machine safely to go back in time. With promise that all her debts will be wiped clean, Mayumi agrees to go back in time to get her mother back and stop Serizawa.

Along the way she encounters a young Shimokawaji who agrees reluctantly to help her find her mother. Hilarity ensues as Mayumi struggles to adapt to a pre-cellphone/pre-internet Japan. She also unexpectedly reunites with her father who had abandoned her while still a child.

The screenplay by Kimizuka Ryoichi (Odoru Dai Shosakan, My Lover Is A Sniper) is good fun in a "Austin Powers" sort of way but doesn't go far enough in exploring the time and explaining just how different an atmosphere it was.

While there are numerous funny "fish out of water" scenes in the movie that explore the cultural evolution which had occurred since 1990 (Japanese slang, clothing, mannerisms) they don't go far enough in exploring all of the possibilities.

There were so many missed opportunities for ironic humor that could have been done (similar to "Forrest Gump").

Baba Yasuo's direction is fast and breezy and he incorporates a lot of neat visual effects throughout the movie (Tokyo's skyline is deconstructed before our eyes back to the 1990's skyline, the Yokohama Bay Bridge is also still in pre-construction phase, Japanese cars and mini cars are replaced with their 1990 counterparts and the surrounding billboards and signs reflect the products of the time. It's so very "natsukashi" to revisit the Japan of that time.

Current Talents Ijima Ai, Ijima Naoko, Popular TV Newscaster Yagi Akiko and former J-League Soccer star Ramos Ruy all have funny cameos in the movie playing themselves in context to the time i.e. before they became famous.

I'm a huge fan of Hirosue (Wasabi,Renai Shashin) and am continually impressed with her ability to bring her unique sense of girlish charm and likability to her roles. Abe (Survive Style 5, Tao No Tsuki, Adiantum Blue) is also very likable in his role as Shimokawaji. They are supported by an equally stellar cast including Fujiki Kazue, Ito Yuko, Ogi Shigemitsu, Moriguchi Hiroko and Ibu Masato.

While it was nice seeing Yakushimaru Hiroko in the role of Mayumi's mother, I did find it as a bit of odd casting considering that Yakushimaru is mainly known for her 80s movies like "Sailor Fuku To Kikanjyu" and "Tantei Monogatari". I would have thought a more clever casting would have been for Harada Tomoyo who was in the time leaping movie "Toki O Kakeru Shojo".

"Bubble Fiction" is not a perfect movie to be sure and the last half hour in particular will definitely try anyone's patience for believable drama. That being said, I did find the movie enjoyable on the whole and worth a look at especially for those who remember what life was like in Japan at the time. We can't relive the past but can at least enjoy the memories.

Dead-on satire on pre-Bubble Japan

[poikkeus · 8/10 · 16 March 2009]

When a girl (Ryoko Hirosue) finds herself in debt with her mother mysteriously missing (and presumed dead), she stumbles an a fantastic discovery - not to be revealed - that has her looking at the world with new eyes. Hirosue is always charming, no matter the role, but the story really comes into its own when it becomes a giddy, clever glimpse of the Japanese Bubble Economy; we see a roll-call of period personalities (including the likes of Junko Kubo) and styles (including a selection of Disco-era dance hits).

This film is fun in its own right, but a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese pop history makes it a special treat. Cameos help round out the package.

Back to the past Japan style

[ebiros2 · 8/10 · 29 May 2011]

The movie is about a mother and a daughter team going back in a time machine the mother invented to 1990 when Japan was experiencing an economic bubble.

The year is 2007 and Japan's national debt is rising above 8 trillion yen. Isao Shimokawaji (Hiroshi Abe) sees that Japan will be bankrupt in 2 years. He learns that his ex girlfriend Mariko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) has accidentally invented a time machine while designing a front loading washing machine. He asks her to go back to March of 1990 when the Japanese government announced a tightening of real estate transactions (which triggered the collapse of the bubble economy) to stop the passing of this law. She obliges, but has lost contact after she gets there. Shimokawaji then asks Mariko's daughter Mayumi (Ryoko Hirosue) to follow her mother to investigate what happened. Mayumi is sent back to 1990, and contacts Shimokawaji of that era. He of course doesn't know who she is, but together they gradually find out their true relationship, where her mother is, and what was the true intention behind the passing of the law.

There is another famous Japanese time travel movie called "Girl who leaped through time", but this is done with different take on how people react when they become time travelers. Two women are sent back in time, but their reaction to the trip are completely different. Somehow the daughter convinces Shimokawaji to buy into her plan by giving him enough evidence to show that she really is from the future.

While situations are exploited to their max to get the comical effect, the writer of this story was probably seeing a more serious side to his story. This can be seen where Shimokawaji of 1990 express to Mayumi, "Then the people 17 years from now are feeling that Japan is no longer a good country, with no bright prospects for its future." and Mayumi replies "I don't know, but the future you seems to think so.". This probably sums up the feeling of Japanese people in 2007.

The culprit of the economic collapse in this movie was not accidental, but was planned by greedy international bankers, and investment bankers who had deep connections in the Japanese government.

Although there're no proof to this, but it is no secret that one of the first western envoy to Japan, Thomas Grubber was a Freemason, and although they've financed Satsuma, and Choshu clan in the Meiji reform, it failed to have the kind of effect they had in the Russian revolution. It's also no secret that most of the Japanese prime ministers were masons like Shigeru Yoshida who's adopted family was Japanese outpost of the British East India company, and the grandfather of recent prime minister Yukio Hatoyama was a grand mason of the Japanese lodge. Its plausible that such grand scheme is not without its purpose, and complete economic control of the country might indeed have been part of its agenda. Otherwise events like the recent theft of 2.4 trillion yen by Ichiro Ozawa doesn't make much sense. This is way too much money for any one person's need to live well for himself.

So the movie while kept light hearted, has many facets to its story, and is a very entertaining piece.

This is a great movie, and is highly recommended for viewing for all audiences.

The foreigners are to blame...

[fabinla · 6/10 · 6 December 2007]

According to this film, Japan's present financial woes are all the fault of money-grabbing foreigners led by one scheming Japanese bureaucrat. Ah, Japan does like to blame its problems on someone else :)

Anyway, that rubbish aside, it is quite funny and I'm sure you'll have a laugh watching it. The last half-an-hour is a bit ridiculous though.

If you like it, other similar films worth a look are Water Boys and Messengers. Both have the same light-hearted humour and the second is by the same director as this "Baburu" film.

This comment has to be 10 lines long otherwise it won't be published (site rules) so here are a few words of meaningless drivel.

Communication & Fashion gap between a girl from 2007 and people in 1990

[goro_ta0 · 9/10 · 16 February 2007]

It was an amazingly wonderful movie. You must see it a hundred times.

This movie is about the time travel to the 1990 in Japan, where Japan had the Bubble economy.

The Bubble economy started in the late 1980s and lasted until the early 1990s. During the period, people spent as much money as possible, it was very easy to get a job like students chose a company unlike companies choose students now, workers' salary was very high, young girls' fashion was very unique. Ex. they had long black hair and their hair was the same length. It was called Wanren. They didn't put layers. At first, they had no bangs, but later they started to put a few pieces of bangs down and curled the rest of bangs backward and some girls got a very fine curly perm. Female players wore a very tight dress that emphasizes their body line called Body-con. Young people liked going to a disco. There appeared boys who pick up and drop off girls and had no more progress than that. They were called Asshee. The dessert, Tiramisu was popular at that time.

Talking about this movie, it's set on March 2007. In the movie, Japan has a financial crisis like it has 800 trillion yen debt. One guy(Hiroshi Abe) who works for the Finance Ministry asks the daughter(Ryoko Hirosue)of the inventor(Hiroko Yakushimaru) of the time machine to go to the 1990 to save her mother, who hasn't come back to the present and stop the breakdown of the Japan's bubble economy.

It's a comedy. I laughed a lot. And, some TV personalities such as Ai Iijima, Naoko Iijima, Akiko Yagi, Hiroko Moriguchi, Ramosu Rui act themselves at that time.

Communication gap between a girl from 2007 and people in 1990: 1.Club: it means a place to dance and drink now, but in 1990, it meant a hostess bar. 2"....nakunai?: people in 1990 were confused wondering it has a positive or negative meaning. 3."Yabai": it's used to mean very good among young people now, but people in 1990 thought it was a bad meaning. 4. Hirosue from 2007 said to Abe in 1990, " I will call you when I get to the station" It's a natural conversation now because we have a cellphone, but people in 1990 didn't have a cell phone, so when they met up with someone, they had to set a specific meeting place.

Differences in fashion: Hirosue(from 2007) said to the girl(Kazue Fukiishi) in 1990 mentioning her fashion. 1."Mayuge Futo! (Your eyebrow is very wide and hairy!) 2."Fiku Pitapita!(Your clothes is too tight!) 3."Dasa! Sono Buatsui Pansuto!"(Your stockings are too thick and not cool!)

During the Bubble economy, I was little, so I didn't remember or know about it very well, but I've heard of it on TV or something, so when I saw this movie, I felt kind of nostalgia. I want to know more about the society in the bubble economy. If you experienced that age, please tell me what you remember about it.

If you love "Back To The Future", the film is highly recommended

[itojun · 10/10 · 31 July 2007]

I will try to refrain myself from giving out any spoilers...

The movie is about a time machine and going back in time to save the Japan's economic crisis, as well as the mother (Hiroko Yakushimaru) of the main character (Ryoko Hirosue). The time machine in "Back To The Future" was heavily-modfied De Lorean, but in this movie, it is a washing machine from Hitachi!

The movie has values as a modern history study of Japanese culture, in 1990. Do not miss it!

PS: if you like this film, try other films directed by Yasuo Baba as well. You'll love those!

Cute As a Button!

[gengar843 · 8/10 · 13 June 2018]

Cheerfully surprised at this extremely cute time-travel-to-save-Japan Toho offering. The best surprise was the introspective look at Japan's "lost decade" due to over-speculation in real estate. Interestingly, this film comes out just before America's "banking and real estate crisis," and if the film has any insight, that American event could easily be called manipulated also. Having lived through it, Paulsen especially worked with swift rigid detachment that smacked of both collusion and human disinterest. ANYWAY, back to the movie.

The leads are wonderful, mugging and shining. The plot takes several twists and turns that are indeed reminiscent of Spielberg's BACK TO THE FUTURE. The humor works, though sometimes it's a bit silly.

Take some time off and watch this delightful little film.

Back to the futures

[nmegahey · 8/10 · 28 December 2017]

It's no coincidence that just as the perception of the breakdown of family and traditional roles led to nostalgia for Jidai-geki period costume dramas a few years earlier, the mid-to late 2000s similarly saw a surprising amount of time-travel films in Japanese cinema. It was as if the desire to escape from the current period of economic uncertainty and social upheaval was so strong that the only way to restore a sense of order and pride in the nation was to really literally go back in time.

Some of these films, like Katsuyuki Matohiro's Summer Time Machine Blues (2005) used the idea simply as an excuse for comic adventure, while others like Metro Ni Notte (2006) exhibited a disturbing escapist longing to not only turn back the clock and seek refuge in an idealised version of the past, but expressed an almost wish-fulfilment desire to trace the roots of the malaise and actually alter events - and even the outcome of the war - so that the crisis in the future might never happen. Yasuo Baba's 2007 timeline shifting comedy Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust, manages however to indulge a bit of nostalgia for the style, music and attitudes of the decadent profligacy of the 1990s boom period in a way that put the seismic cultural shift that has occurred in the intervening period into stark relief, while at the same time finding a very humorous way to point out exactly where it all went wrong.

Mayumi Tanaka, is a not terribly bright nightclub hostess who is in mourning for her recently deceased mother and in grave financial difficulties, her boyfriend having skipped town, leaving her with a huge debt to pay off the local criminal loan sharks. Mayumi is not the only person with financial problems in 2007 however. The whole Japanese nation is on the brink of complete economic meltdown and - strange as it may seem - Mr. Shimokawaji, an official from the Ministry of Finance believes that the debt and grief-stricken Mayumi could be the saviour of the nation. But what is it about a photo of her mother Mariko in an old newspaper from 1990 that interests the government official so greatly and leads him to put his faith in Mayumi? Well, it's just that her mother looks exactly the same in the 17 year old photograph as she did a week ago when she "died".

Mariko, it seems has stumbled upon a time machine while working on research and development of household appliances. Having converted a washing machine into a time machine, Mariko has taken it upon herself to skip back to 1990 to try to convince Mr Serizawa, a prominent minister in the Japanese government, not to make a crucial announcement about new property legislation and banking deregulation that will end up causing so much damage to the Japanese economy of the future. Mariko has disappeared however, clearly without having achieved her goal, and only her daughter has the necessary family connection and right shape and size, if not the brain cells and financial acumen, to go back and help complete the mission which will not only erase Japan's debt, but also the 2 million yen that the loan shark is pressuring her for. That's the kind of motivation Mariko understands.

The science of building a time machine then is a little bit fuzzy - detergent is added to the washing machine, just in case - but obviously, there's quite a bit of intentional humour in the treatment here that helps the rather more serious questions to come out in the wash, so to speak. With the impact of the economic crisis an unpleasant reality for many, there is certainly some amount of wishing to turn back the clock involved here, but the film is under no illusions about what really is the underlying cause of the banking meltdown. And, no, despite what we've been lead to believe, it's not all Gordon Brown's fault. While the film has considerable fun with 1990's styles, at the fashion and the thickness of women's eyebrows, glamorous discos and mobile phones the size of bricks, Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust's funny conspiracy theory action drama actually makes it quite clear who is to blame for spending us into a debt crisis. We all are.

Maybe I'm just getting older then, but when exactly did 1990 become a year to get all nostalgic about? Bubble Fiction does well however to capture the heady decadence of the time in the "period detail", with some cultural references that are specific to Japanese culture and celebrities, but with music, style and attitudes and extravagant spending that will be recognisable to everyone. But were men back in 1990 really such lecherous and sleazy operators as Shimokawaji, the official from the Ministry of Finance? Actually, don't answer that one...

Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust does inevitably stretch credibility as much as any film that meddles with time-travel high-jinks and alternative timeline paradoxes, throwing a good global conspiracy in there for good measure, and it does draw what seems to be a rather simplistic moral platitude out of the resolution (Work hard and look after your family), but in reality it actually has a good point to make, and it does so in a clever and often very funny way. And after all they've been through, who can deny them a little bit of wish fulfilment.