Review by Chris Walts

I’m going to try something a little different with my review of God’s Puzzle: I simply want to tell you to go see it - now. Talking about the plot in any sort of detail would be taking away from the sheer joy of having it unravel in front of you but if you still need incentive to go see it read on.

God’s Puzzle is an adrenaline-fueled, genre-bending film directed by Miike Takashi. Its narrative structure, about as consistent as the laws of physics on a quantum level, brilliantly skips from twin brother slap stick comedy, to effects-heavy documentary on advanced particle physics, to classic drama, to James Bond action flick, to absurdist comedy - all woven around several coming of age stories. To put it more succinctly, it’s the story of a wannabe rock star sushi chief who pretends to be his twin brother in his graduate level physics course and winds up befriending a lonely girl genius who wants to create a new universe, which will likely lead to the destruction of life as we know it. More amazingly, Miike also manages to provide several critiques and observations about the highly technological world we live in, and makes one question whether humanity’s never-ending search for ultimate, unifying answers is a worthwhile quest.

I don’t think I am going out on much of a limb here when I say this is going to be my favourite film of the festival. I sincerely hope this film gets wider distribution and comes out on DVD so I can add it to my film collection. Once again, go see it now.

God's Puzzle
Miike Takashi | Japan | 2008 | 134min

Thur. Sept. 25 | 10:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre 7
Fri. Sept. 26 | 2:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre 3