Marebito (2004)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Takashi Shimizu

Writers:

Chiaki Konaka (novel)
Chiaki Konaka (screenplay)

Release Date:

2005 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

Plot:

A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman (Shinya Tsukamoto) investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.

Plot Keywords:

Cameraman | Subway | Fear | Schoolgirl | Murder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Shinya Tsukamoto	...	Masuoka
Tomomi Miyashita	...	F
Kazuhiro Nakahara	...	Arei Furoki
Miho Ninagawa	...	Aya Fukumoto
Shun Sugata	...	MIB

Also Known As:

The Stranger from Afar (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and some nudity.

Runtime:

92 min | Argentina:92 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

France:-16 | Taiwan:R-18 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A (Ontario) | USA:R | UK:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Adness K.K.

Trivia:

Takashi Shimizu shot the film in just eight days, between the production dates for Ju-on (2002) and its remake, _Grudge, The (2004/I)_.

Quotes:

Masuoka: They didn't see something that terrified them. They saw something because they were terrified.

An average effort by the director of Ju-On

Marebito starts out with an interesting premise, but somewhere along the way the movie falls apart.

A camera man captures a man in the subway committing suicide by stabbing himself in the eye. The camera man becomes transfixed by the death image of the man and studies the footage with the hopes of finding a clue as to why the man would commit such an act. He surmises that the man has experienced something so terrifying immediately before his death as to render him suicidal. So the camera man ventures into the subway for clues and finds a door that leads even further down into the subway. The beginning part of the film captured my interest.

Too bad.

What the main lead uncovers...actually what he finds beneath the subway...and what unfolds thereafter is incredibly dull. The rest of the film becomes a jumbled mess as the main character tries to rationalize, in his more and more irrational mind, the supernatural events that unfold. But the film looks rushed and uninspired...it does look like it was filmed in two weeks.

I thought Ju-on was creepy and fairly good as a horror film. The director's effort on this film is unfocused and meandering; he even interlaces at points in the film, clumsily I might add, with discussions of philosophy and the supernatural in the hopes, I suppose, of lending the film some gravitas. Is the director trying to be metaphorical and deliberately obtuse? I don't know and I did not care.

Because I found some parts of the film creepy and even innovative, I rate this film: Average.