It’s no coincidence that just as the perception of the breakdown of family and traditional roles led to nostalgia for Jidai-geki period costume dramas a few years earlier, the mid-to late 2000s similarly saw a surprising amount of time-travel films in Japanese cinema.

It was as if the desire to escape from the current period of economic uncertainty and social upheaval was so strong that the only possible way to restore a sense of order and pride in the nation was to literally go back in time. Some of those films were just escapist fantasies, but others seemed to hold a deep desire to actually go back and alter events so that the crisis in present could be somehow avoided. The best of them, Yasuo Baba’s 2007 timeline shifting comedy BUBBLE FICTION: BOOM OR BUST, manages to indulge a bit of nostalgia for the style, music and attitudes of the decadent profligacy of the 1990s’ boom period, while at the same time finding a very humorous way to point out exactly where it all went wrong.

Mariko has stumbled upon a time machine (as you do) while researching and developing household appliances.

Mayumi Tanaka (Ryoko Hirosue) is a not-terribly-bright nightclub hostess who is in mourning for her recently deceased mother. Mayumi is in grave financial difficulties, her boyfriend having skipped town leaving her with a huge debt to pay off the local criminal loan sharks. But she is not the only person with financial problems in 2007. The whole Japanese nation is on the brink of complete economic meltdown and – strange as it may seem – Mr. Shimokawaji (Hiroshi Abe), an official from the Ministry of Finance, believes that the debt and grief-stricken Mayumi could be the saviour of the nation. But what is it about a photo of her mother Mariko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) in an old newspaper from 1990 that interests the government official so greatly, and leads him to put his faith in Mayumi? Well, it’s just that her mother looks exactly the same in the 17 year old photograph as she did a week ago when she “died”.

Mariko has stumbled upon a time machine (as you do) while researching and developing household appliances. Having converted a washing machine into a time machine, Mariko skips back to 1990 to try to convince Mr Serizawa, a prominent minister in the Japanese government, not to make a crucial announcement about new property legislation and banking deregulation that will end up causing terrible damage to the future Japanese economy. Mariko has disappeared, however, without having achieved her goal. Only a blood relative of the right shape and size can go back and help complete the mission. In accepting this mission, Mayumi will not only erase Japan’s debt but also the 2 million yen debt that the loan shark is pressuring her to pay back.

Despite what we’ve been lead to believe here in the UK, it’s not all Gordon Brown’s fault.

The science of building a time machine is a little bit fuzzy – detergent is added to the washing machine, just in case – but it’s the humour in the story that helps the more serious questions to come out in the wash. And the film is under no illusion as to the underlying cause of the global banking meltdown. Despite what we’ve been lead to believe here in the UK, it’s not all Gordon Brown’s fault. BUBBLE FICTION: BOOM OR BUST’s funny conspiracy theory action drama actually makes it quite clear who is really to blame for spending us into a debt crisis: we all are.

BUBBLE FICTION does well to capture the heady decadence of the 90s in a way that highlights the seismic cultural shift that has occurred since. Some of the cultural references are specific to Japanese culture and celebrities, but there are universally familiar references to music, fashion and a cavalier attitude towards spending money that now seems almost outrageously extravagant. But were men back in 1990 really such lecherous and sleazy operators as Shimokawaji, the official from the Ministry of Finance? (A terrific performance from Hiroshi Abe) Actually, don’t answer that one…

BUBBLE FICTION: BOOM OR BUST does inevitably stretch credibility as much as any film that meddles with time-travel and alternative timeline paradoxes, throwing a good global conspiracy in there for good measure. And it does draw what seems to be a rather simplistic moral platitude out of the resolution: work hard and look after your family. But it makes a very good point in a clever and often very funny way. And after all they’ve been through lately, who can deny the Japanese a little bit of wish fulfilment? Anyone fancy taking a washing machine back in time now and having a word with Gordon Brown?

Once Upon a Time in Japan

Reinventing the Past Through the Eyes of Japanese Contemporary Filmmakers

Marking its 10th anniversary, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme looks back into the past through the eyes of contemporary filmmakers. Touching upon a trend prevalent in recent Japanese cinema, this season showcases a series of works from directors including Takashi Miike, Sunao Katabuchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Isshin Inudo, who all share the same aspiration to reinterpret and relive moments of times gone by through a variety of genres, styles and tones. The programme began on 1 February 2013 and its nationwide tour runs until 27 March 2013.

httpvh://youtu.be/GguNlQJ-Xqk