Review of Mind Game

Love this film, though - like another reviewer - I find the beginning a bit difficult to embrace, due to the initial portrayal of the lead character, Nishi, as an - on-again, off-again - screeching, whining, gushing emotional wreck, who also is drawn to look embarrassingly cartoonish during his outburst. But this proves to all be intentional, setting him up for a personal transformation. In fact, he gets not ONE chance to change his life, but TWO. Initially, he is an ineffectual coward. This ends very badly for him and the woman he loves. In fact, he dies. After being brushed off and disrespected by God, however, he decides to take his life back and goes to another extreme, becoming so fearless as to be reckless, again bringing horrible consequences upon himself and the woman he loves, and also this time, her sister (the three are swallowed by a whale). The bulk of the film involves the lessons he learns while inside the whale, one of the most important being not to give up or retreat from life, like the bohemian man they meet inside of the whale, who - for 30 years - has managed to learn to make himself safe and comfortable, but who has also effectively stopped growing in any way other than old. In short, he's forgotten what it means to live.