one post is almost certainly not enough so take, i dunno, A Few

i really would caution that while this movie means a lot to me, it's also 100% part of a long legacy of Dude-Centric Narratives. i think if someone can crack the code to make Woke MIND GAME, they'll change the course of human history

the female characters don't get much of anything in ways i can't stick up for. assault is used to basically just set the stage for the plot and romance just kind of obligatorily happens. unfortunately the catgirl BDSM inflation art demo scene doesn't balance this out on the scales of Anubis

MIND GAME shines when its over-the-top, manic energy meets a holistic view of the human condition, buuut that human condition is the human condition of an air-quotes "lovable loser" in his 20s. we see his self-actualization, but the script feels like it's pitying him more than criticizing him

the way its beat-by-beat plot is so maximalist, yet it all hides this weird unspoken subplot about generational trauma that only further serves to illustrate that every life story is connected? that ending montage that lays out 50+ years of choices shaping the story? that shit still moves me deeply

i guess what i'm saying is that recommending MIND GAME is a lot like recommending Scott Pilgrim, which is very funny when you think about what the studio Yuasa co-founded went on to do. MIND GAME Takes Off could still fix all of this

also, if you're watching this on HBO Max like i did, the subtitles seem... rough? not unwatchable, and i'm hopeful that it's not an AI translation because a lot of the errors are homophones like "brakes/breaks", which seems like a very human type of mistake. not sure how other options fare.