A creepy man who teaches cooking starts losing it after he witnesses one of the students kill himself in front of him. Is his cooking that bad?
Chime is a short movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It’s a movie with a lot of atmosphere, and it’s short, you know, with a runtime of around 45 minutes. When I was watching it, I think I dug too deep into the story and the points the director was trying to make, because, in the end, I didn’t understand everything. But then I thought more about it, and I think I got it. It’s about the protagonist starting to lose control over himself, and he’s one creepy man, I think because he walks like a woman and dresses like a woman.
So the guy is disturbing and disgusting—I hated this character. But the point is that his life sucks, he’s mentally ill, and there are quite a few mentally ill characters in this short movie.
He lives with his wife and son, and they don’t seem to have much contact. The wife must have some OCD, while the son is just your average loser who’s also crazy, with his maniacal laugh from hell.
The protagonist is also trying to get a job as a chef at a restaurant, but because of his illness, he ruins his job interview in a funny scene that confirms how hateable his character is. What a stupid loser! It’s all about him the whole time. It’s such a funny and disgusting scene. God, I hated the protagonist!
My favorite scene is the one with the poor, whining woman who feels the pain in an uncomfortable moment that really left an impression. It’s so cold and harsh, and it completely changes the movie—both positively and negatively—since that’s where the plot takes a U-turn and turns into your generic “going crazy” story.
If you enjoy the director’s movies, then Chime is worth watching for the atmosphere and if you like trying to piece together the puzzle. My problem with the movie was that I was thinking too deeply instead of seeing what was right in front of me. The movie is actually pretty simple. But, you know, this director can sometimes make you overthink, so I guess I was trying to get a few steps ahead, and then it turned out the plot is pretty straightforward. So I understood what was going on with the protagonist and the people around him, but of course, some social commentary and stuff you usually find in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s movies drifted past me.