Kabe-otoko (2006)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Wataru Hayakawa

Writers:

Wataru Hayakawa (screenplay)
Daijirô Morohoshi (comic)

Release Date:

15 September 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Television | Crab | Based On Comic | Wall | Rumor

Cast

Mayumi Ono	...	Nishina
Masato Sakai	...	Kyoko
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hineki Mito
Soushi Miyazaki
Maiko Nishimura
Kanako Watanabe
Hironori Yamazaki

Also Known As:

The Wall Man (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:98 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Company:

Kabe-otoko Film Partners

Strange little movie

"The wall man" is a strange movie... it basically revolves around a couple of which the woman works on an annoying entertainment program and the man as a photographer and artist. Somehow a rumor gets spread about a man living inside the walls and watching people. The entertainment program picks it up and keeps repeating it until it becomes an urban legend. Some viewers respond to it and also the photographer gets obsessed with this idea and starts talking mainly about "the wall man" and taking photos of empty walls. Now when you think you get a horror movie you are plain wrong and I think IMDb should change that genre. There is just one scene involving a nightmare that is dealing with horror themes. The rest is just about the obsession with that idea and the photographer descending into madness and talking to the wall man. This movie is rather an odd drama than a horror movie and its message to me still is not quite clear. The whole subject of how rumors spread and how media makes people believe things and act strange is pretty much at the center. Strange TV-Shows always are intercut... the womans show seems ridiculous and most other shows are depicted equally with men wearing womens wigs while reading news. Most of the time the photographer stares at walls a TV is on and the rumor about the wall man also involves him watching TV and changing channels. The movie starts off very interesting with the visualization of the wall man moving inside the wall and watching people, also music is used in an atmospheric way and the movie has some nice audio/visual ideas. Unfortunately it is very fragmented changing from moody dark scenes to ridiculous TV Shows and the photographer always smiling in a strange overly happy way. "The wall man" sure is rather a symbol for either modern media craze or the descend of the characters into madness or their obsession with a subject the focus too much on... I didn't quite get it. Since you never see the Wall man and there is hardly any blood or shocks "The wall man" to me rather is a pretty offbeat drama that is way too fragmented to fully grasp the idea behind it.