Marebito

Wow, what a letdown. From the internet buzz this film has been gettin' I expected more, especially since it's getting a limited theatrical run December 9th here in the US. Apparently director Takashi Shimizu shot this film in a matter of 8 days, between Ju-On: The Grudge, and its US remake simply entitled The Grudge. Takashi is goin' back to his direct-to-video micro-budget route with this film, basically shooting the movie in a consumer-brand digital video cam, so it has that gritty realism/low-budget look to it. The film does prove to be creepy at times, but it's ultimately left unsatisfying.

The story basically follows a freelance cameraman, whom has a dubious obsession with fear, and the look of it in people's eyes. He's transfixed with one particular case when a man commits suicide in a subway area by stabbing himself in the eye. He comes to the conclusion that the man saw something down there, so he ventures out with his trusty camera in hopes of finding the source of the man's fear. He eventually stumbles onto various pathways under the subway -- a fairly popular Japanese myth that a number of tunnels are buried deep under the city. Upon exploring the "netherworld" the man discovers a pale-skinned chained naked woman. Curiosity gets the better of him as he takes the mysterious woman home with him and uses the many cameras he has mounted in his home to watch over her as he's out roaming the city with his camera. Over time he realizes that maybe the woman was better left where she was found, as he discovers that she has an odd hunger for blood and stops at nothing to help feed her.

This movie brings many interesting and original ideas, but fails to fully explore them. Like the true background of the young girl and the theme of demons crossing over into the real world. The film also suffers from the dreaded slow-pacing. In fact we really don't get a lot more than the cameraman talking in his head and some shots of naked weirdo's in all white and walking on all fours. Although some scenes like that are somewhat creepy, they are pretty much pointless since nothing is explored. We even get a silly, and very brief, subplot of a crazy woman claiming that the girl the man has in his home is his own daughter -- another plot-point that wasn't explained nor explored. Essentially the flick is just a bunch of interesting ideas and nothing more.

OVERALL

An interesting low-budget film that brings forth many unique ideas, but fails to explore them. There are a couple somewhat creepy moments, but nothing more. If you're a fan of Takashi Shimizu and have seen his early low-budget direct-to-video efforts then maybe you'll like this. I personally thought the movie was too slow.

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Jen :

Posted 44 days ago

Agreed, this movie sucked and it was way to slow.

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