When I think of Japanese films, I think of anime, horror and crime thrillers. It's not often that I discover meaningful dramas outside of the 1950's and 60's.
While this one is most definitely a drama, it makes choices that almost give this genre new life.
The slow pacing and almost 3hrs duration does give this story time to stretch out it's narrative, characters and it's topics.
The way it opens is like it's hypnotising you and gradually absorbing you into this world. It also kept me guessing as to where this was as certain moments surprised and shifts in themes gave it an unexpected amount of depth.
Exploring topics such as grief, betrayal and the art of acting has put this film onto a pedestal that film studies will jump at and pick apart.
It even messes with the conventional structure of filmmaking as it had me thinking the film was over after around 50 minutes.
The performances are all pretty strong. None of them are showy as the style and pacing all has them being subtle and nuanced. But they all gradually blossom by the end of it.
The dead pan look of everyone may not show anything on a surface level. But the strength of the writing by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and the rest of the writing team gave them great conviction that resonated well with me. So props have to do Hidetoshi Nishijima, Took Miura, Masaki Okada, Yoo-Rim Par and Reika Kirishima especially.
Even with this personal view, I am confident that certain audiences will be engrossed by this. There's a lot to discuss about this and it will be a great film to dissect. It's possible that I may rate this higher over time. So whether or not you like this, I will be surprised if you don't appreciate this.
Rating: 7/10
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