Vital (2004)

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a ... See full summary »

Director:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Writer:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Stars:

Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kiki

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tadanobu Asano	...	Hiroshi Takagi
Nami Tsukamoto	...	Ryôko Ooyama
Kiki	...	Ikumi
Kazuyoshi Kushida	...	Hiroshi's father
Lily	...	Hiroshi's mother
Hana Kino	...	Mrs. Ooyama, Ryôko's mother
Gô Rijû	...	Dr. Nakai
Jun Kunimura	...	Mr. Ooyama, Ryôko's father
Ittoku Kishibe	...	Dr. Kashiwabuchi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takashi Akiba
Toshiki Ayata
Kazuko Emura
Asako Endô
Kuniko Fukuda
Takashi Furuya

Storyline

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates of the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo in the arm of the corpse, he discloses that she was his girlfriend and becomes obsessed to go further in the examination of the body.

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Plot Keywords:

loneliness | dissection | tattoo | parents | autopsy | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some aberrant sexual behavior, disturbing images and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

11 December 2004 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Vital: Autopsia di un amore

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kaijyu Theater

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Blue Bird
Written by Cocco
Performed by Cocco

User Reviews

Obscure, confusing but entertaining

This movie was a strange experience, I started watching what I thought was a horror movie and ended up watching a tough "hard to swallow drama".

This movie should get, at least, 7 stars for originality! I never saw anything like it. The idea was genuine, the characters were creative and the set was very appropriate and perfectly matched every scene. It has a great photography, high quality images with nice shooting angles helping and transmitting the feelings and emotions connected with each character. From the technical point of view the only inferior element was the soundtrack, which didn't quite caught my ear.

However, the plot and its progression is a total different subject! I had a hard time understanding where the flashbacks ended and started and this movie has lots of them! Then, the main character's individuality was very peculiar, I mean, too peculiar, it just turned my head around and made it very hard to understand what was going on, what was he feeling and, thus, where the movie was going... Depressive thoughts and activities are splattered all over the movie, the main character has a hard time distinguishing reality, imagination, memories and dreams, and so do we...

From a subjective point of view, the movies theme was too depressing and it's just not my style. From an objective point of view, the plot could have been delivered in a more proper way.

In spite of all flaws, the movie did entertain me and I couldn't leave my sofa until I knew how this confusing and strange movie would end.