Being a Japanese horror movie is basically all that I need to be convinced to sit down to watch a movie. I am a life-long fan of the horror genre, and I do love Asian cinema quite a lot, so this was right up my alley.
"Helter Skelter" (aka "Herutâ sukerutâ" is listed as a drama horror movie, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this. And after having read the synopsis, then I had a general idea of what I would get into here, but I had no idea that there would be so much focus on sex as there was here at the hands of director Mika Ninagawa. Now, I am not a prude or anything, but excessive nudity and sex scenes doesn't necessarily promote a movie in a positive manner, and it really didn't do anything in favor for this movie.
The cast in the movie was good, and Erika Sawajiri (playing Lilico) really was well-cast for the lead role and she did a great job with her performance in this movie. Now, I can't really claim to be overly familiar with anyone on the cast list in the movie, but the casting was good and people performed quite well with their given roles and characters.
The characters in the movie were good and diverse, and the central character Lilico was the epitome of self-absorbed, narcissistic mentality that is influenced by society and trends, and the need for approval and acceptance of the media and society. So there was a lot of aspects to the movie that were sitting well with how society is today, of how foul, rotten and manipulate it is, and how desperate people are becoming in the search for 15 minutes of fame. Personally, I don't understand why people resort to plastic and cosmetic surgery, it is just so unfathomably vain and pathetic in my opinion, so as the movie definitely also dealt with that as a main topic, it was all the more interesting to watch and see such a side to the obsession of beauty and acceptance.
The music in "Helter Skelter" is somewhat of an acquired taste, because it is very, very weird and stands out like a sore thumb. I can't claim to be a fan of the music that they opted for using in the movie and I don't think that it is complimentary to the movie at all. In fact, I think it adds a very unnecessary sense of parody to the movie, like it is all a farce.
Visually then this movie was quite interesting, because there was some very good cinematography and lots of variation in contrast.
This movie is somewhat of an acquired taste, and you definitely need to have an affinity for the off-beat and the odd in order to fully appreciate and enjoy "Helter Skelter". I found the movie to have its ups and downs, like most movies do, but it lost momentum about halfway through and became too slow paced for my preference. My overall impression with the movie is a mediocre end result; thus I am rating it 5 out of 10 stars.
"Helter Skelter" (aka "Herutâ sukerutâ" is listed as a drama horror movie, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this. And after having read the synopsis, then I had a general idea of what I would get into here, but I had no idea that there would be so much focus on sex as there was here at the hands of director Mika Ninagawa. Now, I am not a prude or anything, but excessive nudity and sex scenes doesn't necessarily promote a movie in a positive manner, and it really didn't do anything in favor for this movie.
The cast in the movie was good, and Erika Sawajiri (playing Lilico) really was well-cast for the lead role and she did a great job with her performance in this movie. Now, I can't really claim to be overly familiar with anyone on the cast list in the movie, but the casting was good and people performed quite well with their given roles and characters.
The characters in the movie were good and diverse, and the central character Lilico was the epitome of self-absorbed, narcissistic mentality that is influenced by society and trends, and the need for approval and acceptance of the media and society. So there was a lot of aspects to the movie that were sitting well with how society is today, of how foul, rotten and manipulate it is, and how desperate people are becoming in the search for 15 minutes of fame. Personally, I don't understand why people resort to plastic and cosmetic surgery, it is just so unfathomably vain and pathetic in my opinion, so as the movie definitely also dealt with that as a main topic, it was all the more interesting to watch and see such a side to the obsession of beauty and acceptance.
The music in "Helter Skelter" is somewhat of an acquired taste, because it is very, very weird and stands out like a sore thumb. I can't claim to be a fan of the music that they opted for using in the movie and I don't think that it is complimentary to the movie at all. In fact, I think it adds a very unnecessary sense of parody to the movie, like it is all a farce.
Visually then this movie was quite interesting, because there was some very good cinematography and lots of variation in contrast.
This movie is somewhat of an acquired taste, and you definitely need to have an affinity for the off-beat and the odd in order to fully appreciate and enjoy "Helter Skelter". I found the movie to have its ups and downs, like most movies do, but it lost momentum about halfway through and became too slow paced for my preference. My overall impression with the movie is a mediocre end result; thus I am rating it 5 out of 10 stars.