 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 • Year: 2017 • Country: Japan • Director: Takashi Miike • Main cast: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Nana Komatsu, Jun Kunimura • Runtime: 119 minutes • Production company: Oriental Light and Magic (OLM), Toho Company, Warner Bros., Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) • TRAILER |
Yes right. This is what happens when Takashi Miike has carte blanche to adapt a manga. Monsters, magic, humor and great visual effects under the hand of the gifted in bizarre Japanese genius. We can’t forget that the original manga books, created, written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, are focused on the juvenile audience, so the Japanese director had to put aside the gore and violence that took him on the top list of horror filmmakers to rely on magic and fantasy. Which, by the way, is not the first time he does such a thing in his astonishingly extense career.
For those who don’t know it, the film adapts the Diamond is Unbreakable storyline from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure comics. The original comics are split up into 8 unique parts, each following the story of one member of the Joestar family, abbreviated as “JoJo“, discovering their magical powers and facing other supernatural enemies. In the current film, a teen named Josuke Higashikata finds that he possesses the supernatural abilities. Discovering the truth behind his cursed and bizarre bloodline, and the evil that lurks within his town, together with the help of his weird friends he tries to uncover the mysterious threat.
This movie, as well as the original manga books, are very Japanese style, and the plots and actions might feel very strange and unnatural to the occidental audience. Personally, since I am not a fan of manga or anime, I felt that thing of not getting linked into the story very well. But that doesn’t really matter because Takashi Miike has developed such an impressive visual rollercoaster that one couldn’t help to stay glued to the chair with a surprised grin. It is true that some of the conversations and situations seem silly, and the final battle was too long and at times can feel tedious. But we are in front of a movie destinated to a certain audience that, still, is a gift for everyone’s eyes.
So if you are part of that audience, if you are a fan of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or manga in general, probably you can enjoy this movie much more than I did. In fact, this movie might bring you everything you wanted and expected for a film adaptation of the books. Also, if you are a fan of Miike’s job, like I am, even when this is not one of his ultraviolent rampages, the magic of his very personal eye is there. So with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 (2017), more than with many other movies, you must know what you are facing.
As a curiosity, although the movie is placed in Japan, the filming locations were mostly in the little town of Sitges, in the Catalan coast. Yes, right, there where the Sitges Film Festival takes place, one of the most important horror and fantasy festivals in the world. Takashi Miike is one of the classics of the festival, every year having listed at least one of his latest works in the program. So this was his nice tribute to the beautiful town. I know, one is watching the movie and that doesn’t look at all like fucking Japan, it’s a fucking Mediterranean town! But man, it’s Miike, he can do WHATEVER the fuck he wants. And we all love it.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6105880
