Comedy is hard. That's what many comedians say, at least. Think of Charlie Chaplin filming hundreds of takes per immortal gag.
But Koki Mitani — the famously workaholic comic playwright, scriptwriter, director and producer — makes it look easy, with a stupendous number of film, TV and stage credits. And unlike the many comic talents that rely on collaborators, Mitani operates mostly as a one-man creative factory, while drawing heavily on the works of Neil Simon and Billy Wilder for inspiration.
Mitani films are like classic Broadway and Hollywood comedies in contemporary Japanese guise. Highlights include "Rajio no Jikan" ("Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald"), his 1997 debut about a neophyte scriptwriter's disastrous professional bow, and "The Uchoten Hoteru" ("Suite Dreams"), his 2006 megahit about a chaotic New Year's Eve at the title hotel. But as seen in "Gyarakushi Kaido" ("Galaxy Turnpike"), Mitani's first venture into comic sci-fi, his work also expresses some very Japanese sentiments. Difficult or even dastardly characters reveal their essential niceness and everyone achieves a warm harmony by the credit crawl. Given Mitani's shout-outs to local values, it's no surprise that his 10 films to date have mostly become domestic hits, though they are not often shown abroad. Somewhere along the line, though, actual laughs have gone missing — or perhaps it's just me, having seen his wheezy screwball comedy riffs too many times.