When is a "multitalented" person too "multi"? Where is the line between extending your creative energies in new directions and spreading yourself thin?
That question occurred to me after seeing the quirky comedy "Jinu yo Saraba: Kamuroba Mura E" ("A Farewell to Jinu"), Suzuki Matsuo's first feature film as a director since "Quiet Room ni Yokoso" ("Welcome to the Quiet Room"), his 2007 comedy set in a mental hospital. During this eight-year gap, Matsuo was busy working as a scriptwriter, actor, novelist and manager of a theater troupe.
The new film, in which burnt-out bank employee Takeharu Takami (Ryuhei Matsuda) moves to the countryside intent on living a zero-yen life, has some of the same promise and problems of Matsuo's earlier work, beginning with his 2004 directorial debut "Koi no Mon" ("Otakus in Love"). All his films have a clever offbeat premise, funny-if-borderline-annoying characters and laugh-out-loud gags. The comedy, however, begins at full volume and stays there, while the story feels like a series of sketches rather than a narrative with an arc.