Terumae romae II (2014)

Terumae romae II: Directed by Hideki Takeuchi. With Hiroshi Abe, Aya Ueto, Kazuki Kitamura, Kai Shishido. A sequel to the comedy Thermae Romae, an adaptation of Yamazaki Mari’s popular comic. A Roman Empire bathhouse architect discovers he is able to travel through time when in need of inspiration. Things get messy, however, when he finds himself wrapped up in a conflict that could divide the Roman Empire.

“One of my favourite films from Montrealu0026#39;s Fantasia Festival in 2013 was u0026quot;Thermae Romae,u0026quot; a goofy Japanese film set in ancient Rome and featuring bath builder Lucius (Hiroshi Abe) who finds himself in modern-day Japan from time to time, where he discovers new public bath designs and a young girl Mami (Aya Ueto) who wants to draw manga and is very drawn to him. So when I saw there was a u0026quot;Thermae Romae IIu0026quot; showing up at Fantasia in 2014, starring the same actors in the same roles, well, I had to see it of course! And it was just as goofy as the first one. Once again, Lucius is called upon to create new public baths, at the behest of Emperor Hadrianus (Masachika Ichimura), but this time heu0026#39;s asked to do so in the belief that public baths will make Rome a peaceful country that no longer is fighting multiple wars in distant lands. But the Senate wants the wars to continue – after all, they profit mightily from them – and so they conspire to have Lucius killed by ex-soldiers turned bandits. But they reckoned without the single-mindedness of our hero, and his peculiar ability to suddenly be transported to modern-day Japan, with all the advantages that brings to him (not to mention Mami)….u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is definitely a sequel, but one that doesnu0026#39;t require the audience to have seen the first film (in fact, I heard several people in line stating that they hadnu0026#39;t seen the first one, but the premise was such that they couldnu0026#39;t miss seeing the second). There are a few moments shown from the first film, mostly Mami having flashbacks of those events, but they werenu0026#39;t needed to enjoy the second one on its own merits. Thereu0026#39;s a lot of humour and a bit of pathos, and some romance too. And I had forgotten that Luciusu0026#39; travels into the future were accompanied by an apparently necessary baritone opera singer, on some hill somewhere, singing u0026quot;Pagliacciu0026quot; – the final touch to make this just that much more absurd, and enjoyable! A fitting end to Fantasia for us this year indeed!”