Fantasia Fest Coverage: Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2021)
Directed By: Junta Yamaguchi
Starring: Aki Asakura, Riko Fujitani, Gota Ishida
Plot Summary: Kato, the owner of Cafe Phalam in front of Kyoto’s Nijo Station, goes back to his apartment above the cafe after finish-ing up work for the day. When he is about to play his guitar, Kato himself suddenly appears on his TV screen and be-gins speaking. “I’m the future me. Two minutes in the future.” The TV in Kato’s room and the TV in the cafe below are somehow connected with a time difference of two minutes. Confused, Kato goes to the TV in the cafe as told by the two-minutes-into-the-future version of himself, and begins talking to himself in the past. The cafe staff and regular customers enjoy the phenomenon. Discovering the existence of the “Time TV,” they face the monitors toward each other eager to learn about what lies in the distant future. Further-more, Kato’s crush Megumi from the barbershop next door and the yakuza with an office in the same building, become involved as well, as the “time echo” accelerates the fiasco… Then a mysterious duo pays a visit. The future strikes back. The shackles of continuity tighten…until they go Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.
One of the best things about covering Fantasia Fest is discovering exciting new works of art by filmmakers that you just know are going to make a big mark on cinema someday. Such is the case with Junta Yamaguchi’s feature film debut Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. From the opening sweeping long tracking shot, Junta comes out swinging and loudly announces he’s in the game. I kind of knee-jerk eyeroll when it comes to time travel movies because they always come with their own set of baggage. It’s to Yamaguchi’s talent that he can take something that is a well-worn sci-fi trope and put a wholly new spin on it. With its “two-minutes into the future gimmick”, I admit I was skeptical. Sure, this seemed like a fun short film, but would it be suited to feature length? The magical thing about this movie is that every time the plot feels like it’s getting repetitive, a new complication is added which kept building upon the previous scene whilst upping the stakes. Also, towards the end you start to see clever little things set up earlier in the film (which felt like throw away gags) that actually are paid off quite nicely.
There is of course a high energy that comes with a young-filmmaker’s first-rag tag, go-for-broke quality that saturates everything. Junta also really seems to be a rather efficient director, and he does a lot with his budget. The production only utilizes maybe three or four locales, and since this movie takes place in a span of a few mere hours, he’s able to use the same clothing for his actors. It was plain to see that Junta shows a level of filmmaking maturity beyond his years with expertly framed shots, impressive long takes and the ability to maintain a consistent narrative thread and tone.
While the science-fiction is mentioned in the beginning, Beyond masterfully restrains from going full pulp-sci-fi until the very end of the film. This for me was another stroke of brilliance, and when he does fully go into that realm, it had me grinning ear-to-ear. I also didn’t expect the movie to end in a rather touching way. The movie isn’t perfect, and I think it does have a few rough edges, but I was completely blown away by how much thought and raw talent was poured into this first effort.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a zany, highly fun debut and ushers in a new creative voice in cinema.
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Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.
