Der Film ist eine rasante Historienkomödie: Das beginnende 20. Jahrhundert ist die Glanzzeit der Helden der frühen japanischen Filmgeschichte. Die sogenannten „Benshi“, die Einsprecher, die als Kinoerzähler den Figuren in den Stummfilmen eine immer höchst originelle Stimme gaben, waren oft die größeren Stars als die SchauspielerInnen. Der junge Filmliebhaber Shuntaro will unbedingt selbst ein Benshi werden. Und so entwickelt sich ein vielschichtiges Intrigenspiel, eine Liebesgeschichte, ein rasantes Fahrrad-Roadmovie, in dem auch die Yakuza mitmischt. Doch alles kommt schließlich zu einem tollen Happy End, inklusive des Dramas, dass der Stummfilm ja letztendlich dem Tonfilm weichen muss.

The film is a pacy historical comedy: At the beginning of the 20th century - the heyday of early japanese movie heros - the narrators who lend movie characters their voice are often bigger stars than the actors and actresses themselves. Shuntaro, a young film fanatic, is yearning to become such a narrator, a so-called 'Benshi'. A complex intrigue, a love story and a bicycle-roadmovie in which even the Yakuza play a part unfold at the same time until, ultimately, the film finds a happy ending.

It’s not often one finds a period film born of reverent, deeply researched cinephilia that is also a rip-roaring slapstick comedy suitable for the whole family (those able to read subtitles, that is), but the utterly adorable “Talking the Pictures” fits just that double bill. Directed with supremely good-natured verve by Suo Masayuki, who worked a similarly lovable if slightly more grown-up groove in 1996 with international hit “Shall We Dance?,” it’s a loopy caper inspired by, of all arcane things, the Japanese tradition of benshi — live narrators of silent films who became regional celebrities in their own right. As colorfully designed and meticulously costumed a re-creation of early-20th-century, small-town Japan as you will find in any more grandiose genre, it’s a blast and a perfect primer for any film buff parent worried their preteen is showing signs of being similarly afflicted, and searching for world cinema titles they can enjoy together equally.