Chakushin ari (2003)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Yasushi Akimoto (novel)
Minako Daira (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 January 2004 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Death cannot be put on hold...

Plot:

People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths.

Plot Keywords:

Death | Message | Hospital | Asthma | Friend

Cast

Kou Shibasaki	...	Yumi Nakamura
Shin'ichi Tsutsumi	...	Hiroshi Yamashita
Kazue Fukiishi	...	Natsumi Konishi
Anna Nagata	...	Yoko Okazaki
Atsushi Ida	...	Kenji Kawai
Mariko Tsutsui	...	Marie Mizunuma
Kumiko Imai
Keiko Tomita
Kayoko Fujii
Yoshiko Noda
Azusa	...	Ritsuko Yamashita
Tetsushi Tanaka
Mitsuhiro Sato
Kaoru Hanaki
Hassei Takano

Also Known As:

One Missed Call (Philippines: English title) (USA)
You've Got a Call (Japan: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images and brief nudity.

Runtime:

Japan:112 min | USA:111 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Malaysia:U (cut version) | South Korea:15 | Peru:14 | UK:15 | New Zealand:R16 | France:-12 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Spain:18

Company:

Kadokawa-Daiei Eiga K.K.

Trivia:

During the opening credit sequence, one of the cell phone ring-tones is the theme song from an earlier 'Takashi Miike (I)' film, Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the hand is reaching for Yumi in the hospital, the finger twists backwards, however, you can see someone’s hand holding up the arm when the arm and finger start to contort backwards.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Chakushin ari" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Ikutsuka no Sora

Chakushin ari is another ghost tale but it gets a bit special when Miike-san is in charge of things.

First, I strongly disagree with some other posters at the board who weren't bothered by Chakushin ari facing a Hollywood remake. Why can't Hollywood keep their dirty fingers away when they fail in their own miserable creativity. Anyhow...

I've just started to dig deeper into the works of Takashi Miike and I have no problems admitting that his movies are awesome. Chakushin ari is another ghost tale but it gets a bit special when Miike-san is in charge of things. What you get in Chakushin ari is, besides the beautiful surroundings and awesome camera work, tension, thrills and a plot which does quite good for being in this genre. It has its moments of originality and compared to the works of Hideo Nakata, I'd say Miike here accomplish a heavier load of tension throughout the whole movie, while Nakata's movies have tension coming in waves, sort of.

I have really nothing to whine about here or rant at. The actors are doing a good job and the piece kept me interested throughout the entire playtime. Thumbs up.