Gureitofuru deddo (2013) Reviews

• Utterly demented and way entertaining film

  Corpus_Vile2014-04-29

  Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is a lonely young girl prone to outbursts of left field violence, due to being ignored by her poverty-relief obsessed mother who leaves one day, leaving her with her depressed father and older sister. Nami's dad takes on a mistress and still ignored and with her sister now with a boyfriend, Nami seeks constant solace in in an inane shopping channel, captivated by the gadgets and bargains offered by the smiling host. Years later, Nami, now a young woman has a peculiar hobby in which she observes and takes notes on sad and very lonely elderly people, who she calls "Solitarians". There's the angry middle aged man who barges by everywhere rudely bumping people aside, and there's the crazy homeless looking guy who feeds the pigeons, all collectively becoming Nami's muse and a source of endearment. One specific solitarian catches her attention. He's Mr. Shiomi (Takashi Sasano) an embittered old man, who once empowered with former status, is now alone, lonely and angry, going through each day with a grumpy, dreary resignation. Nami is captivated by this with Mr Shiomi providing her with much entertainment. One day however a Christian missionary woman Su Yong (Khobbi Kim) visits Mr Shiomi and asks if he'd like her to engage in bible reading with him. Suspicious at first, Mr Shiomi eventually agrees and a hesitant friendship begins between them with Mr Shiomi, becoming less bitter and finding a new appreciation for life. Nami is not amused. Mr Shiomi's new found zest means he's no longer a "Solitarian" thanks to Su Yong's meddling. What's to be done about this state of affairs? One thing's for sure, Nami will not have anyone messing with her precious hobby or her viewed from afar subjects... Grateful Dead is well, pretty great actually with it starting off like a typically quirky Japanese comedy before slowly but inexorably getting darker & darker until veering into outright horror territory toward the third act. However, it's really a (very effective) mixture of genres, combining comedy with drama and some social commentary to boot, before its demented conclusion. A highly recommended little gem it should be sought out by any horror/genre fan or anyone who likes offbeat films in general. A strong 8/10, just a highly satisfying and nicely demented (but not at all demented for the sake of it) film.

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• Quirky Japanese comedy/horror

  Red-Barracuda2016-11-25

  A girl from a highly dysfunctional family grows up a loner with a tendency towards violent episodes. As a young woman she develops the hobby of spying on fellow loners and the lonely. One day she sees her favourite subject, an old man, with a Christian volunteer. The realisation that he may be leaving his solitude sets off a dangerous anger within her and she decides to take his fate into her own hands with deadly intentions. This Japanese movie is one that seems to have gone somewhat under the radar. It's certainly a left-of-centre effort for sure that doesn't firmly place itself within one specific genre. It sets out for its first hour as an oddball comedy but in its final third it turns darker with the focus switching to the horror genre. It benefits from a couple of spirited performances from Kumi Takiuchi as Nami the disturbed young woman and Takashi Sasano as Shiomi the old man. The material never fully comes together in an entirely cohesive manner, however, with the whole idea of a girl spying on solitary people a concept that isn't developed as much as it might have been. The result is a pretty loose movie that doesn't entirely gel. It's still well worth a watch though if you enjoy Japanese movies from the quirkier side of the spectrum and it benefits also from being offbeat enough to be kind of unpredictable.

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• but I won't be rushing to re-visit it for a little while

  christopher-underwood2018-01-27

  Director, Uchida claims that this was originally intended to be a comic film but that now only the first half has humour. Well, I didn't notice it. We begin with the heroine as a child and being ignored by her family and are suddenly thrown with an incident at her school involving a very violent movement with a floor mop. I think I actually gasped. As an adult she develops an unusual lifestyle, not very amusing and more tan a little scary, selfie with a dead and deterorating old man anyone? I have to admit that the lady herself finds all this very amusing and speeds about with her bicycle and binoculars with a manic grin on her face. In the second half things become even more crazy, disconcerting and violent as the true horror of this film become evident. Not an easy view, this is very well made with great performances in very unusual and difficult situations but I won't be rushing to re-visit it for a little while.

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• The Living Dead Girl.

  morrison-dylan-fan2016-11-22

  Whilst having read a lot of praise for Bone Tomahawk and seeing Late Phases director Adrián García Bogliano mentioned a number of times on IMDb's Horror board,I found the third horror flick chosen for viewing on IMDb's Film Festival board to be a complete unknown. Checking the films IMDb page,I found a fellow IMDber who has given me awesome recs had written a review praising the movie,which led to me getting ready to find out how grateful the dead could be. The plot: After the suicide of her dad, Nami spends the next few years comfortably living off the cash left to her in his will. Suffering a tough childhood where her dad ignored the family for his new mistress,Nami has picked up some unusual habits,one of which is watching/spying on old people. Nicknaming the people she spies on "Solitarians",Nami becomes obsessed with a lonely old man called Shiomi.Spying on her favourite loner,Nami is shocked to find that Shiomi is no longer lonely,but is now taking part in bible studies. Horrified by Shiomi now not being on his own (!) Nami decides to stop spying,and to pay Shiomi a special visit. View on the film: Skipping along to the off-beat of Nami's mind,co-writer/(along with Etsuo Hiratani) director Eiji Uchida & cinematographer Shinya Kimura spray the screen with a quirky indie vibe,as stylish slow-motion scenes of Nami walking around care-free slyly hide her nasty habits. Cutting into the gore of Nami and Shiomi's relationship, Uchida impressively keeps the bonkers nature of their relationship be a central theme to the violence,as the sharp use of slo-mo reveals the calm behind Nami's mad eyes. Gradually revealing Nami's set of horror fangs,the screenplay by Uchida and Hiratani stab Nami's habits with jet-black Comedy venom, hilariously stiffening as Nami's peaks on her loners sexual interest,to flowing over the viewer,as Shiomi gives a less than cheerful response to Nami's desire to keep him a loner. Casting an eerie shadow from Nami's troubled childhood,the writers nail it to the floor with brittle torture horror.Grinding the gory horror with a nail-gun,the writers strip away the bitterness of the Torture Horror sub-genre via dipping the action in comedic tar. Joined by a wonderfully gruff Takashi Sasano as Shiomi, Kumi Takiuchi gives a superb performance as Nami,thanks to Takiuchi smoothly threading Nami's odd,butter wouldn't melt in her mouth outer shell with a gleefully murderous grin bubbling underneath,as Nami makes the dead feel grateful.

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• Alone Yet Not Alone

  sol-2016-11-19

  Neglected as a child, an independently wealthy young woman spends her time spying on individuals who she considers to be as lonely and isolated as her in this decidedly offbeat film from Japan. The movie initially plays out like a quirky comedy with lead actress Kumi Takiuchi grinning from ear to ear all the time while riding her bicycle, camping on rooftops and taking notes on the lonely citizens she enjoys watching, whom she terms "Solitarians". The plot thickens though when one such "Solitarian" turns out to be less cut off from the world than she thought. First, he lets himself be smitten by Christian missionaries, then his extended family keep popping by, and things turn very horror-like as Takiuchi takes drastic measures to ensure that the man remains the "Solitarian" that she initially identified him as being. The structure of the film is hardly perfect. The young actress who plays Takiuchi as a child is equally effective, if not more so, and the film could have benefited from spending more time on her traumatised childhood, while the horror angle comes extremely late in the piece - something that results in the second half of the film feeling far superior to the first half. Never to mind, Takiuchi never falters throughout and the film is full of neat touches, such as the constant use of upbeat music to highlight her delirious view of the world, smiling as non-Solitarians are hit and assaulted. Takashi Sasano (playing the man she becomes obsessed with) holds his end up very well too, almost becoming just as irrational as her as all the madness spirals towards a close.

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