Kuniaki Nanba is 27 years old, 180cm, 80kg, bats right, throws right. Born in Tokorozawa and In his high school days he was a promising baseball player, but unfortunately he was on the receiving end of a ferocious bean ball to the head. Since then he has worked in a shipping company and now works in a convenient store. One of his co-workers stops to talk to Nanba on her way out of the store and asks “Could you stop watching me? You give me the creeps.”

He soon encounters Eiko, an alcoholic with a psychotic personality. The thing that they have in common is their love of baseball. The spend nights together watching baseball games at home and drinking beers. When they are out of money, they go out looking for money in all sorts of illegal ways. This inevitably gets the attention of Ishiioka, a local police officer in their neighborhood. Ishioka is familiar with Nanba, because he is the one that beaned Nanba in the head as a high school baseball player.

If Ryu Murakami ever wrote a screenplay about baseball than perhaps it would have turned out to be like “Green Mind, Metal Bats.” This is one of the stranger movies you will likely see with a baseball theme. All the main characters are pathetic in their own ways, losers living their live on the fringes of society, committing various illegal acts, yet its hard not to become attached to the three main characters.

Nanba is a soft spoken person that comes across as being slow, perhaps still feeling the remnants of the ferocious bean ball he took to his head as a high school baseball player. He diligently practices a 1,000 swings a day and believes that he has perfected the ultimate swing. Yet at the age of 27, he can’t even get a tryout from the local professional teams. When he meets the psychotic Eiko, they are at least able to share their love of baseball.

Eiko is a violent drunk, a walking time bomb for trouble. She drinks all day & night, doesn’t seem to work, and has no qualms about kicking a girl in the face to rob of her of money. What Nanba is able to provide for Eiko is a rugged tough guy, but still passive enough to allow her to get her ways.

Ishioka is a jaded police officer that beaned Nanba in the head back in their high school days. Back in those days, Ishioka was at the top of his game in baseball and in life. Now that his amateur sports career is over, his life has spiraled down similar to the manner of Nanba’s. Ishioka now works as a low level police officer with a disgruntled girlfriend/housewife and an amusing apathy held towards the people that he is supposed to help. He is aware of the robberies that has taken place with the assailant wielding an aluminum bat but hasn’t taken actions yet.

What makes these characters so interesting? Hard to say. but a lot of the credit should go to the director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri. He doesn’t try to sugar coat the characters to gain sympathy from the audience, yet still allows their good points to come out in subtle ways. Nanba will lay a blanket over Eiko when she is sleeping or he will stand for hours holding up rabbit ear antennas so Eiko can watch her baseball games. Eiko on the other hand comes across as extremely psychotic, yet when she gets into trouble its impossible not to have sympathy for her. Ishioka seems to be a likable police officer at first with a strange sense of humor, but as the movie continues you realize that he his problems are equal to Nanbo and Eiko and he may be in the worst position of the three characters.

Green Mind, Metal Bats is derived from a manga (as are a lot of Japanese films these days) but has the flavor of a more thoughtful Takashi Miike film. The film truly excels at balancing its offbeat, zany comedy elements with its realistic portrayal of urban youths that are for all intents and purposes lost. Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri doesn’t take the easy route by artificially inflating the movie with sappy moments to bring you on the side of its nihilistic main characters. You just become attached to the characters, in spite of their faults, because they possess the qualities of people you know but without the pretenses.

Interesting to note that the literal translation of the original manga was “Youth and Metal Bats” but partially due to the director’s affinity for Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind album, the title was changed to “Green Mind and Metal Bats” for the international market. A song from Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind album called “The Wagon” perfectly sums up the movie :

“There’s a way I feel right now
Wish you’d help me, don’t know how
We’re all nuts so who helps who
Some help when no one’s got a clue
Baby, why don’t we? Baby, why don’t we?

There’s a place I’d like to go
When you get there then I’ll know
There’s a place I know you’ve been
Here’s a wagon, get on it
Baby, why don’t we?

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