(Jmovie Review) Cafe Funiculi Funicula
Another title: Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Original title: Kohi ga Samenai uchi ni (コーヒーが冷めないうちに)
Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Producer: Arimasa Okada, Junichi Shindo
Release date: September 21, 2018
Duration: 1 hour 57 minutes
Duration: 1 hour 57 minutes
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Time travel, Drama
Distributor: Toho
Casts:
Kasumi Arimura as Kazu Tokita
Kentaro Ito as Ryosuke Kentani
Motoki Fukami as Nagare Tokita
Yoriko Ishida as woman in summer clothes
Haru as Fumiko Kiyokawa
Kento Hayashi as Goro Katada
Yo Yoshida as Yaeko Hirai
Yutaka Matsushige as Yasunari Fusaki
Haruko Yakushimaru as Kayo Takatake
Aaarrrggghhhh... I'm so excited to see my long awaited movie
has finally been uploaded. The story about time travel is always intriguing for
me, no matter how possible it is to happen. To be honest, I really do want time
travel can happen in real life. I don't need to change anything, just need to
confirm something. hikksss...
Enough with my babbling...😁😁😁
Kazu Tokita works in a café called Café Funiculi Funicula which
her relative, Nagare Tokita, runs. There is
a rumor that there is a certain seat that a customer sits there, with
his/ her intention, he/ she would time travel. But there are some conditions
for everyone who wants to time travel to agree with:
1. You can't meet people who didn't visit the café .
2. If you do something in the past, it won't change the
present.
3. Only one seat is able to take someone into the past. If
the seat is occupied, one must wait until the seat is available.
4. When you go to the past, you must stay in the seat.
5. The time you stay in the past is from pouring the coffee
into the cup, until before the coffee gets cold, and you have to finish the
coffee before it gets cold.
 |
| Some time travel conditions |
The conditions seem realistic for me since the one who wants
to go to the past must be someone who has the attachment to the place. Moreover,
the setting of meeting someone in the
past must take place in the café, too.
The first customer who wants to sit in the legendary seat is
Fumiko Kiyokawa who doesn't have good love life, and her expectation goes to
her long lasting childhood friend , Goro. But, her childhood friend is going to
the US for his work, and he doesn't say anything to Fumiko. Fumiko wants to time
travel to when she meets her best friend to set up things. However, she knows
the rules, anything won't change in the present.
 |
| Long lasting childhood friends |
The second costumer is Kayo Takatake. She suffers from
dementia, and she forgets almost anything, including her husband. Something that
she still remembers is she wants to sit on the seat which has the power to time
travel whoever sits on it. She never has the chance to sit there until the
disease attacks her. She is lucky to have such a kind hearted husband who is
always there for her. This couple story is indeed heartbreaking 😢😢
 |
| The sweet touching couple |
The third costumer is a rebellious sister who always avoids
her little sister who wants to meet her. Her mind suddenly changed when she
finds out that her little sister got an accident and was not saved. Can you
imagine meeting someone in the past who passed away in present time? How heart
rendering it is 😢😢😢
 |
| Sisters who always have cute dispute |
Don't forget about the romance story in this movie. Besides
telling about time traveling, you'll get a very sweet love story between Kazu Chan,
the coffee maker, and Kentani kun, the costumer. Their love grows silently but
sweetly. There is always a feeling of someone who felt guilty of what she did
in the past. She then considers that she doesn't deserve to be happy. Sometimes
I hate this kind of feeling that happens in many dramas. But, well yeah, to add
more drama is essential in the story conflict, right? 😏
 |
| Do you need time travel to get sweet partner :) |
As I mentioned earlier that I love this kind of drama with
time travel story. The time travel story I have watched has a very bitter
ending.Yet, I never thought that this movie would have such relieving ending.
Hope it's not a spoiler 😁😁 I love the story, the characters,
the urband legend about time traveling, how hard the consequences are, even the
slow motion when Kazu chan was pouring the coffee. But the last part when Kazu
chan goes back to the past is still confusing me. If you happen to watch it,
and have more understanding about the ending, would you please discuss it with
me?
 |
| The yurei who always occupies the legendary seat |
The dramatic moment of time travel with the smell of the fragrant coffee
To tell you the truth, the genre of time traveling is not the only thing that made me want t watch th movie. The casts, of course have the important part, too. I saw Kentaro Ito, it's autoclick for me 😍😁😁 . From the fan video I saw, I know that Kentaro has a bit different character here. He is no longer a stutter student with reserved personality. He seems more mature and confident in this movie. Different from Kasumi Arimura as Kazu chan. I watched her in Chugakusei Nikki and she seems that she doesn't change her role. I know that she is a good actress, I watched her in March Comes in Like A Lion. She nailed her character there. But I think, Kazu chan and Hijiri sensei are the same person, quiet, undecisive, not too confident about herself.
I love other characters here, but Haru as Fumiko san. I
think she doesn't have different role from one movie to another. I got tired of
her when I watched Survival Wedding. Actually I watched that drama for the sake
of watching Ryo Yoshizawa, but I ended up being tired of her. I watched her in
The Kitazawas: We Mind Our Own Business. She looked OK, but my eyes only went
for Ryo-kun, I mean Ryosuke Yamada 😁😁 Haru's partner in this
movie, Kento Hayashi performed well. Yutaka Matsushige has a very different
role here. I mostly watched him in many police or detective dramas, but here, awwwww.... His 'daijobou's
expression to his wife is really heart breaking.
Overall, this is a very recommended movie that I would
recommend it to everyone, even though if you don't really like fantasy genre.
If I were to attend the café and sit on that seat, I would.... Oh, how I wish time
travel would come true ☺
SPOILER DON'T READ!!
ReplyDeleteThe ending : kazu-chan return to the past, back the time when she thought she met her mother as the "last time" (without knowing that "last time" was the future that his mother had travelled after she drank her coffee). that's why when she come back to the christmas 2000, she found her mother, with her ringing coffee, then she realize that her mother had travelled time to the future (because of her ringing coffee). because she said that she was so happy that her mother come back alive at the christmas 2000 and she thought it was dream. hope that helps you, but i had another thing that i don't understand. so in the end is the mother gone? how and why? when she back to the present, her mother is still there, but after then the film show that the table is vacant and no glass was served, and on the epilogue of growing up MIKI (the daughter), i didn't see Kazu's Mom which made me think her mother is not in the cafe anymore, my question is how and why is the mother gone?
hope you can tell me the answer or what your opinion-based of the answer that im asking.
Thank you very much for discussing the ending that confuses me, flyingz.
ReplyDeleteYour answer clears my confusion about Kazu chan time travel with Miki helping her.
From your question, I thought that Kazu's mom is probably gone because when Kazu went to 2000, and the alarm was ringing, Kazu asked her to drink her coffee and she did it.
If my assumption is right, that means something changed in the present because what she did in the past during her time travel. And it breaks the rule of the time travel, right?
OH, well, that's as far as I can tell. Do you have any other speculation?
you are very welcome justaveragereader. when i posted here, i didn't really think that you would follow up or accept my post. well i'm glad that i still tried to post it XD
ReplyDeletewell about your opinion, Kazu's mom did drink her coffee, but she drank it after the alarm stopped ringing, which most likely means the coffee was cold already. another support of this "cold coffee opinion" was, her mother is still there for so long, even have the time to have some conversations with Kazu, and she was still there when Kazu's coffee was ringing, and she was also still there when Kazu's is in the process of coming back to the present time.
If Kazu's mom is really back to her time, there is no way after she drank the coffee, she still have that lot of time to be there and even saying goodbye to Kazu because Kazu's mom is the one who drank the coffee first and a lot of time has passed even untill Kazu's coffee ringing and she drank it, her mother was still there.
well but your assumption is interesting, i was thinking if there was any rule-breaking time travel moment that would be very interesting twist plot.
but i think the rule stands upright, so here's my speculation: the past won't change anything present, so when Kazu is back to the present, her mom is still there as usual coming back from the toilet, but it as the narrator or the film meant to say, you can't change the present by changing or looking back at the past, but if you do something about your past, your future after that might change.
So, IF Kazu did not come back to the past, maybe her mother would still stucked as ghost in that cafe maybe like forever, but because Kazu go back to the past and settle some things with her, the future changed, and her mom's ghost is not there anymore. or maybe her mom's have fulfilled the things he left behind so finally she can rest in peace.
well i'm actually glad that i can share my thoughts with you, im gonna spend my time here sometimes and watch some film that i haven't see yet on your page if that's ok with you :)
Hello again, flyingz. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I'm glad that someone really reads my review, moreover shares some thoughts, too.
ReplyDeleteI think I can accept your opinion about kazu's mom. To think about it more deeply, makes my head spin. Movie is meant to entertain, right?, not really giving the audience homework to think. Lol.
Oya, I try to compare this movie with another movie, Enoshima Prism. If you happen haven't watched it yet, I recommend you to watch it. Shuta (Fukushi Sota) did time travel, too, to change the present even though he knows that he might be stucked between two periods of time. One become a ghost, while he doesn't. Sorry if you haven't watched it, it's not really a spoiler. Just try to compare that there is a room of possibility of breaking the rules of time travel.
Well, be my guess of wandering around my blog :)) I'd love to hear some of your thoughts next time XD
I'm still wondering how did Shintani make Miki in the future came back to her past which is Shintani's/Kazu's present?
ReplyDeleteHello, Nisa. Just read the above comments. They might answer your question :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm confused too. How could Sentani have Kazu come at 8 the next day? How did Sentani arrange for Kazu to return to the past?
ReplyDeleteActually it could have happened as long as Kazu made coffee so Sentani could go into the future and tell Miki. But, Sentani back then didn't go to the past
Can you enlighten me?