Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The movie is about a mother and a daughter team going back in a time machine the mother invented to 1990 when Japan was experiencing an economic bubble.The year is 2007 and Japan's national debt is rising above 8 trillion yen. Isao Shimokawaji (Hiroshi Abe) sees that Japan will be bankrupt in 2 years. He learns that his ex girlfriend Mariko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) has accidentally invented a time machine while designing a front loading washing machine. He asks her to go back to March of 1990 when the Japanese government announced a tightening of real estate transactions (which triggered the collapse of the bubble economy) to stop the passing of this law. She obliges, but has lost contact after she gets there. Shimokawaji then asks Mariko's daughter Mayumi (Ryoko Hirosue) to follow her mother to investigate what happened. Mayumi is sent back to 1990, and contacts Shimokawaji of that era. He of course doesn't know who she is, but together they gradually find out their true relationship, where her mother is, and what was the true intention behind the passing of the law.There is another famous Japanese time travel movie called "Girl who leaped through time", but this is done with different take on how people react when they become time travelers. Two women are sent back in time, but their reaction to the trip are completely different. Somehow the daughter convinces Shimokawaji to buy into her plan by giving him enough evidence to show that she really is from the future. While situations are exploited to their max to get the comical effect, the writer of this story was probably seeing a more serious side to his story. This can be seen where Shimokawaji of 1990 express to Mayumi, "Then the people 17 years from now are feeling that Japan is no longer a good country, with no bright prospects for its future." and Mayumi replies "I don't know, but the future you seems to think so.". This probably sums up the feeling of Japanese people in 2007. The culprit of the economic collapse in this movie was not accidental, but was planned by greedy international bankers, and investment bankers who had deep connections in the Japanese government. Although there're no proof to this, but it is no secret that one of the first western envoy to Japan, Thomas Grubber was a Freemason, and although they've financed Satsuma, and Choshu clan in the Meiji reform, it failed to have the kind of effect they had in the Russian revolution. It's also no secret that most of the Japanese prime ministers were masons like Shigeru Yoshida who's adopted family was Japanese outpost of the British East India company, and the grandfather of recent prime minister Yukio Hatoyama was a grand mason of the Japanese lodge. Its plausible that such grand scheme is not without its purpose, and complete economic control of the country might indeed have been part of its agenda. Otherwise events like the recent theft of 2.4 trillion yen by Ichiro Ozawa doesn't make much sense. This is way too much money for any one person's need to live well for himself.So the movie while kept light hearted, has many facets to its story, and is a very entertaining piece.This is a great movie, and is highly recommended for viewing for all audiences.

According to this film, Japan's present financial woes are all the fault of money-grabbing foreigners led by one scheming Japanese bureaucrat. Ah, Japan does like to blame its problems on someone else :)Anyway, that rubbish aside, it is quite funny and I'm sure you'll have a laugh watching it. The last half-an-hour is a bit ridiculous though.If you like it, other similar films worth a look are Water Boys and Messengers. Both have the same light-hearted humour and the second is by the same director as this "Baburu" film.This comment has to be 10 lines long otherwise it won't be published (site rules) so here are a few words of meaningless drivel.

While pop icon Prince sang about how he wanted to party like it was "1999" in the 80s, I reckon some Japanese lament about how they used to party in the early 90s during the height of their "Bubble Keiki" (Bubble Boom).1990 seems like only yesterday, but in Baba Yasuo's silly yet entertaining "Bubble E Go: Time Machine Wa Drum Shiki" (AKA Bubble Fiction) it seems like a fond memory to the Japanese. The early 90s were a great time to be in Japan - unemployment was almost nil, banks were loaning money at ridiculously low interest rates, property values were sky high, company bonuses were huge, tight "body-con" dresses, super mini skirts and permed hair were all the rage and the yen value was at an all time high.Of course the "bubble" era (1986-1990) would burst towards the late 90's and Japan would plunge into a deep recession from which they are only just now beginning to recover from.Taking a page from Robert Zemeckis' influential "Back To The Future" series, "Bubble Fiction" is a time-traveling, Sci-Fi comedy that waxes nostalgic about the Bubble Keiki of economic prosperity and decadence that Japan experienced during that time and how many Japanese long for a return to that happiness.The story begins in the present and revolves around the recent reported death of a brilliant genius, Tanaka Mariko (80's Kadokawa Film Heroine Yakushimaru Hiroko) who was a home appliance technician and amateur inventor. This couldn't have happened at a worst time for her troubled daughter Mayumi (the fetching Hirosue Ryoko), whom had recently come back home to live with her after a particularly bad romantic breakup. Mayumi's previous boyfriend had borrowed money from Yakuza loan-sharks and fled, leaving her to pay off his enormous mounting debts. Forced to take various odd jobs (including a hostess at a Ginza Bar) to pay off the debts, she is continually hounded by a particularly persistent "chimbira" (Yakuza underling) Tajima Keiichi(Gekidan Hitori) who oddly enough was a former bank employee until his bank went bankrupt.Mayumi is soon visited by a mysterious "Zaimushou" (MOF-Ministry of Finance) officer, Shimokawaji Isao (Abe Hiroshi). He tells her that her mother is not dead but rather stuck in the past (in the year 1990). It seems Tanaka Mariko had developed a time machine (built within a drum/cylinder washing machine - hence the title) and had gone into the past to try and convince then-Finance Minister Serizawa (the great character actor Fukiishi Kazue) to reconsider his disastrous policy decision that plunged the economy into ever increasing debt.Shimokawaji and his team had determined that Mayumi's similar body type to her mother (and same genetic DNA) make her the only one that can use the machine safely to go back in time. With promise that all her debts will be wiped clean, Mayumi agrees to go back in time to get her mother back and stop Serizawa.Along the way she encounters a young Shimokawaji who agrees reluctantly to help her find her mother. Hilarity ensues as Mayumi struggles to adapt to a pre-cellphone/pre-internet Japan. She also unexpectedly reunites with her father who had abandoned her while still a child.The screenplay by Kimizuka Ryoichi (Odoru Dai Shosakan, My Lover Is A Sniper) is good fun in a "Austin Powers" sort of way but doesn't go far enough in exploring the time and explaining just how different an atmosphere it was.While there are numerous funny "fish out of water" scenes in the movie that explore the cultural evolution which had occurred since 1990 (Japanese slang, clothing, mannerisms) they don't go far enough in exploring all of the possibilities.There were so many missed opportunities for ironic humor that could have been done (similar to "Forrest Gump").Baba Yasuo's direction is fast and breezy and he incorporates a lot of neat visual effects throughout the movie (Tokyo's skyline is deconstructed before our eyes back to the 1990's skyline, the Yokohama Bay Bridge is also still in pre-construction phase, Japanese cars and mini cars are replaced with their 1990 counterparts and the surrounding billboards and signs reflect the products of the time. It's so very "natsukashi" to revisit the Japan of that time.Current Talents Ijima Ai, Ijima Naoko, Popular TV Newscaster Yagi Akiko and former J-League Soccer star Ramos Ruy all have funny cameos in the movie playing themselves in context to the time i.e. before they became famous.I'm a huge fan of Hirosue (Wasabi,Renai Shashin) and am continually impressed with her ability to bring her unique sense of girlish charm and likability to her roles. Abe (Survive Style 5, Tao No Tsuki, Adiantum Blue) is also very likable in his role as Shimokawaji. They are supported by an equally stellar cast including Fujiki Kazue, Ito Yuko, Ogi Shigemitsu, Moriguchi Hiroko and Ibu Masato.While it was nice seeing Yakushimaru Hiroko in the role of Mayumi's mother, I did find it as a bit of odd casting considering that Yakushimaru is mainly known for her 80s movies like "Sailor Fuku To Kikanjyu" and "Tantei Monogatari". I would have thought a more clever casting would have been for Harada Tomoyo who was in the time leaping movie "Toki O Kakeru Shojo"."Bubble Fiction" is not a perfect movie to be sure and the last half hour in particular will definitely try anyone's patience for believable drama. That being said, I did find the movie enjoyable on the whole and worth a look at especially for those who remember what life was like in Japan at the time. We can't relive the past but can at least enjoy the memories.

I will try to refrain myself from giving out any spoilers...The movie is about a time machine and going back in time to save the Japan's economic crisis, as well as the mother (Hiroko Yakushimaru) of the main character (Ryoko Hirosue). The time machine in "Back To The Future" was heavily-modfied De Lorean, but in this movie, it is a washing machine from Hitachi!The movie has values as a modern history study of Japanese culture, in 1990. Do not miss it!PS: if you like this film, try other films directed by Yasuo Baba as well. You'll love those!