The odds of two brilliant Japanese comedies opening the same day are high but not impossible, somewhat like the odds of the same director (James Cameron) making two all-time worldwide box-office hits ("Titanic" and that other film about blue aliens).
Both "Kazura" and "Boys on the Run" open Saturday and both are good, if in quite different ways. If you're a balding, lonely, middle-aged male, "Kazura" is more likely to hit home; if you're nerdy, clueless and dateless, it should be "Boys on the Run." If you're all of the above, get a life, brother, not a movie ticket.
Directed by Renpei Tsukamoto, from an essay collection by Shinya Kobayashi, "Kazura" could have easily become a one-joke comedy that plays like a stick of gum: Tasty start, flavorless finish. But Tsukamoto, a TV director whose credits include the late-night cult favorite "Jiko Keisatsu" ("Statute of Limitations Cop"), builds on his slight premise like a standup comic constructing a castle of laughter out of thin air — or rather sharp observations about everyday embarrassments.