Every day Takuro has to live with the ugly reality of who he is. Underneath we're sure he's a lovely man, but the surface appearance and behaviours aren't exactly attractive. Running a cheap diner out Osaka direction, you'd have to admit that he's a bit of a loser; overweight, with disgusting habits, a thick provincial accent and he's not much to look at either. Basically, he's ugly.No one, least of Takuro, or the hundreds of women who have shunned and fled from his advances would dispute that. A pretty new waitress, Hiroko, can see beneath the thick surface, but even she is disappointed when Takuro declares his love for her. How can he show them all the real Takuro? Fortunately, there's an experimental new suit not yet on the market - the Handsome Suit - and Takuro's appearance makes him the ideal candidate to try it out. Just keep it away from hot water!Tsutomu Hanabusa's The Handsome Suit has much of the highly-stylised and ultra colourful manga/anime visual language of Tetsuya Nakashima (Kamikaze Girls), but director Tsutomu Hanabusa never lets the cartoonish special effects overpower the sincerity of the message, or the brilliance of the comedy. The message, of course, is an obvious one - we've all seen Shrek - but it sometimes what's important is how you get it across.

I've never seen the two male leads in anything else. I was most impressed with Shosuke Tanihara because he had the actorly and comedic chops to show the character's gradual seduction by, and eventual disillusionment with, the trappings of being one of the "beautiful people." The best comedy acting should look effortless, but it is also the most difficult to pull off--more so in live performance than in film, where a performance can be sliced and diced to sharpen timing. Tanihara is the real deal, OR, at least, this director was able to get this high-level of work out of him. I look forward to seeing him in other kinds of roles and hope that he doesn't fall into the trap of being too handsome to not look like a trademarked version of himself. I especially would like to see him in dramatic roles, because the best comic actors make the best dramatic actors, more often than the other way around.Muga Tsukaji as Takuro is no slouch, either. This is a character who wears his heart on everything--most literally on his restaurant, which is called Kokoroya (Heart Shop). The actor does this in such an organic way that the exaggeration required to make him a heightened caricature in no way robs him of his believability as an ugly duckling everyman. Just as much, I hope to see him in dramatic roles, and not limited to playing a Jabba the Hut type villain.I agree that the cheesiness of some of the plot devices was forgivable, but not necessarily because it's a Japanese picture. I think the cheesiness effectively serves the aims of caricature required to make this not just a sweet little romantic comedy, but also a sharp satire on consumerist superficiality. I especially liked the sly little dig at the Japanese preoccupation with incorporating English into conversations solely for the purpose of being fashionable. Americans do this with Japanese and other languages, though perhaps not to as great an extent. I don't think American filmmakers are any less capable of producing this type of pointed commentary, but the type of production that can do this has to be relatively free of commercial obstructionism, and there appears to be less of that, at least in the Japanese export market. Not having regular access to the standard Japanese cinematic fare that doesn't make it overseas, it's not for me to say that Japanese film, in toto, adheres to some higher standard of independence than U.S. film. I'm just happy that we're getting the good stuff.I'd also like to comment on the use of color, since no one else has mentioned it yet. There was an intentional manipulation of color in the sequences where the transformed Annin encounters the barely real world of "Let's Handsome." The clothes' colors are saturated, and the skin tones are desaturated and tinted gold. Still photos of all the handsome men at the beginning of the movie are hand tinted with obvious makeup effects. This sets up a dramatic irony for the mind of our hero to miss and the audience to pick up, on a subliminal level. He's enamored of the "Let's Handsome" experience and doesn't recognize its artificiality for what it is until (as he says) it's too late, but the audience is clued in from the get-go and has to watch him helplessly as he gets sucked into that world. However, this isn't an alienating device, because anybody who's ever felt inferior because of his or her looks can also feel the power of that seduction and find it hard to resist, and therefore completely empathize with him.The only serious downside I found with this movie is that it was obvious how it was going to end, so if they were going for a surprise, that didn't work. The details were mildly surprising, but the outcome wasn't. Apart from that, a couple of stereotypical gay character expositions were mildly annoying more than blatantly offensive, and the Japan-specific references to worn-out jokes from old TV shows were a little baffling, but more of a blip than a buzz kill.I think this would be particularly good movie for adolescents and the parents of adolescents to see, not necessarily with each other. Kids who are on the cusp of doing something stupid to themselves because of poor self image could benefit from the underlying message, especially the ending.

Against all odds, I really, really liked this movie. It's all kinds of silly cheesy that could never be pulled off with a Hollywood production but coming from Japan, it all seems to work.An ugly man who can't find love (or so he thinks) gets the offer to try on a Handsome Suit, which essentially completely transforms him into a hunk. He then juggles his new life as a top model as well as his old life of running a little restaurant. Eventually he has to choose one or the other, but the decision isn't as clear-cut as one might think.All the characters are just so darned lovable. They overact but it's completely appropriate for this movie and doesn't nauseate me at all. And the movie's message is a positive one, about how looks aren't and shouldn't be everything, whether you're hideous or gorgeous.Of course there are flaws to the movie, including weak arguments for the message in some scenes, a too-long runtime at 2 hours, and the sole cringey scene in which the hero makes a very public announcement that he's giving up his good looks, but I exited the theater with a big smile on my face, and I made the prediction that after a while, I'd have forgiven the movie's weaknesses, and I have.

Handsome Suits might be Japan's answer to Korea's 200 Pounds Beauty, and given the success of the latter movie which deals with women's vanity in wanting to look good, this one is the equivalent, but centered on men instead, denying the focus on grooming as much as we like.Face it, we're more than likely to turn the blind eye for someone who looks good. Maybe not necessarily drop dead gorgeous, so long as they're pleasing to the eye. The movie plays on the observation of how possessing good looks would open doors and help in getting a leg up in life, like a satire on the sad reality of life that is, but in its simplicity comes a well told story with plenty of pathos to think about, ranging from being true to oneself, and again a constant reminder not to judge a book by its cover.Takuro Ohki (Muga Tsukaji) might be the ugliest chef around no thanks to his porky frame, but inside lies a sensitive man who stuck to a long held mantra of his late Ma's Taste at Ma's Price diner. Essentially a good man, he has no luck in love because of his lack of presentable looks, and romance is always far off in his mind. Tsukaji brings about some likability to this character, though I really must defer judgement to the ladies for frank opinions on whether they would date a guy who looks like that on first impressions, coupled with the propensity to stick his finger up his nostril (for a chef!).Like a fantasy come true, this is pretty much done in Click fashion, with the all-powerful remote control being replaced by an all-powerful suit which looks like a cross between the Michelin Man and the stay-puff marshmallow man. Once worn and vacuumed fit, he becomes instantaneously transformed, voice included, to be as sexy as can be, with women literally swooning at his feet, and his opportunities to get in touch with the opposite sex suddenly increases manifold. As Annin Hikariyama (Shosuke Tanihara), he becomes the hottest sensation in the fashion circuit, and faster than you can say "Let's Handsome", the coolest model in the business, Raika (Mayumi Sada) falls hard effortlessly to his charms.It is easy to identify with Takuro's leading of a double life, one as the ugly chef, and the other as the handsome model on the brink of signing a multi-million dollar management deal. However, he's soon cradled with the mother of all dilemmas, with his ex-waitress Hiroko Hoshino (Keiko Kitagawa) rejecting both Takuro as well as Annin, which he cannot fathom why, and then his growing affection for fellow looks-challenged Motoe (Miyuki Oshima). As if leading one simple life is not enough, his honeymoon with his suit once over will bring some major headaches which he must address, sometimes with hilarious results, especially when dealing with the suit's vulnerability to hot water.There are some opportunities for special effects, and these are done simply and to the point. What elevated this movie is its genuine comedy without trying to insult the audience's intelligence, especially when early on in the film he has to juggle with his newly established identity, lapsing constantly into his old self. Those who are keen-eyed will soon begin to see how the surprise of the movie would come as early as from the midway point. But don't go and look for such clues on purpose though, as it'll actually spoil the fun.With a constant and not too sublime reminder on the need to appreciate the little things you do that matter, and the little joys that you can find along the way in life that is important to help keep spirits up. I particularly enjoyed that extended scene where Motoe plays a game with Takuro during their walk home, which serves as a powerful reminder to stop and smell the roses. Handsome Suits will be recommended stuff, should it make its way to Singapore. Don't leave the theatre just yet until after the end credits!