Film Review - Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week! (2022)

The eternal grind of our day-to-day job can be draining. Days can blur together and at times free time can fly by at the speed of life and suddenly it is Monday again. It can feel at times that we are repeating the same week repeatedly. Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week! answers this question very literally.

The film follows Akemi who is currently working on a project as part of her job at an advertising agency. A pigeon smacks off the window waking everyone asleep at their desks. The project is to promote a miso tablet. The project is not going entirely well. She must deal with last-minute changes, making a video to promote the product and on top of that try balancing her social life outside of work however that side of things has taken a back seat. She finishes her working week and then wakes up; she is back where she started and, a pigeon smacks off the window waking everyone asleep at their desk.

This a time loop film and it uses this mechanism to have effective social commentary on Japanese work culture. It is well known that there is a problem with Japanese people being overworked. The most recent big example of this was that staff working at the anime studio MAPPA are overworked. So, seeing this issue being tackled head-on is amazing. Seeing the characters learn that there is more to work than working for hours and being treated poorly for no reason.

What allows the themes to resonate well is the humour. The film is extremely funny and uses the time loop aspects to set up truly clever and funny jokes. A joke involving a PowerPoint presentation is genuinely well thought out and laugh-out-loud hilarious from the moment the scene starts.

I also love the entire cast. Wan Marui is truly excellent as our lead Akemi. Seeing her discover the time loop and optimising her time effectively to get all her work done is so engaging and I feel it works so well because of her performance. Makita Sports however is the true glue of this film performance-wise. Seeing his character’s story unwind is truly impact and emotionally driving and his performance is subtly yet incredible.

Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week! Is a great time. It is a unique and funny time loop film that is short and sweet but leaves you wanting more in the best way possible. I want to show this film to others as I feel it is a must-watch film.