Our Fantasia Film Festival 2026 coverage continues with the multiverse comedy You Are the Film.
Writer (and now director) Makoto Ueda had written one of the most adroit time-travel films since Shane Carruth’s Primer. The Fantasia 2021 entry Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes took all of the tropes and conventions of the time-traveling genre and bent them into a brilliant, audacious film. Now he has made his debut as a director with another multiverse in a similar manner with You Are the Film.
A playwright (Marika Ito) and a band manager (Kai Inowaki) respective lives that are about to head into crisis points. They are both given a flyer for a new “crazy wild” film that the local indie theater is playing. Needed a respite from their lives, each buys a ticket to this film. They quickly find out they are each watching each other’s lives unfold on screen and can speak to one another. The duo, separated not just by a universe, attempt to help one another, though each is warned by the “theatre technician” to leave well enough alone. As problems and characters quickly collide, is there a happy ending in each of these movies?
You Are the Film has the feel of a Hong Sang-soo film with its clever concept but grounded in a way that puts character before plot or a set piece. Those expecting a rousing adventure will be disappointed. Ueda’s film is much too clever for that, commenting on not just genre and the way we often comment on genre filmmaking. Like Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, writer/director Makoto Ueda excels at defying your expectations and creating a clever, always-evolving narrative. A film that will have the most discerning cineaste smiling by its end and in eager anticipation for Ueda’s next film.
You Are the Film played at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 19th
Our Fantasia Film Festival 2026 coverage continues with the multiverse comedy You Are the Film.
Writer (and now director) Makoto Ueda had written one of the most adroit time-travel films since Shane Carruth’s Primer. The Fantasia 2021 entry Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes took all of the tropes and conventions of the time-traveling genre and bent them into a brilliant, audacious film. Now he has made his debut as a director with another multiverse in a similar manner with You Are the Film.
A playwright (Marika Ito) and a band manager (Kai Inowaki) respective lives that are about to head into crisis points. They are both given a flyer for a new “crazy wild” film that the local indie theater is playing. Needed a respite from their lives, each buys a ticket to this film. They quickly find out they are each watching each other’s lives unfold on screen and can speak to one another. The duo, separated not just by a universe, attempt to help one another, though each is warned by the “theatre technician” to leave well enough alone. As problems and characters quickly collide, is there a happy ending in each of these movies?
You Are the Film has the feel of a Hong Sang-soo film with its clever concept but grounded in a way that puts character before plot or a set piece. Those expecting a rousing adventure will be disappointed. Ueda’s film is much too clever for that, commenting on not just genre and the way we often comment on genre filmmaking. Like Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, writer/director Makoto Ueda excels at defying your expectations and creating a clever, always-evolving narrative. A film that will have the most discerning cineaste smiling by its end and in eager anticipation for Ueda’s next film.
You Are the Film played at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 19th
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