Minuscule, misleading assumptions tease our confused capacity amidst self-doubt, we adopt habits but change very little, only for a point of saturation to illusion a state of betterment. In all truth, it is the same world, yesterday and today, all that has materialized itself is a suspension of disappearing energy. Dreams melt to disappointment and desires sublimate to compromises; some of these even self-caused, partially or wholly, manipulation. Sources to inspire are many but so are the fears that we, artists and survivors of an increasingly fallible life, permit shapes to; various concatenations of our insecurities and sullen thoughts of what could-be(s). Yuasa here is eccentrically obvious and gleefully voracious, so much so that by the end of the 90 minute explosive implosion of passion, change and existentialism, I am rendered utterly speechless and thoughtless — stolen of my capability of self-evaluation and more so, bereft of any inherited lessons, of the many he is concerned with — the experience remains just as cathartic as when I first laid eyes on this blessing of a director.
Mind Game on the surface feels like a refutation of the denied-existence to fear but there is a lot more to find as you go deeper. It is invaluably enchanting when it adds time as a factor to its showcases of the infinite possibilities, honest when it juxtaposes the acquired inference with the factual standpoint, and powerful when it puts egotism against generosity and how the former curbs appreciation stand in the way of the latter. In one of the first scenes of the movie, Nishi’s message on the phone says: “Your life is the result of our own decisions.” And with pleasure, Yuasa forms a surreal story around it and adds countless bottles of absurd humour to it. I am not even sure if Mind Game is something that believes to be consumed the way I do — trying to linearly capture its essence, only to be end up lost in its fountain of delivery. After all, it’s the emotion that has been remnant, pointing to caveats of my own plans while simultaneously triggering the zeal in an attempt to overcome fear — be it ephemeral or superficial but it is something which reminds me that the story never ends.