He opens the film with fast cuts paired with marching music that immediately sets the tone and the setting. The plot develops not through the revelations (the cliche way) but through dialogues, action and small details wrapped around in one perfect blanket. The clever way of using music that contradicts the scene is very Sono style but nevertheless, effective in bringing out the scene.
Dark, gray tones dominate the film with lots of red. Still, tropes like the typical-weak-salary man is still played and stretched towards the end that somehow makes the film repetitive. And with a 140 minutes running time, it's too long for a crime-thriller drama of this sort. The pacing is just too long, the narrative too dragging that at times, you just want to get to the excitement (and they aren't many). Expect blood and guts but don't expect excitement. Expect weirdness and undermined representations of women but don't expect excitement.
I'd praise the actors for their excellent portrayal though. Veteran actor, Denden plays the energetic-everyone's-uncle role so well mixed with humor and sadistic tendencies. Asuka Kurosawa (whom I've seen play a similar role in The World of Kanako) plays the seductive wife well and Mitsuru Fukikoshi plays the pathetic average man so well and that transformation at the end. Silent but deadly. He played it well.
It's more disturbing that the film is loosely based on the "Saitama murder of dog lovers" as you watch the film and have that in mind (though Sono makes a point that it's based on a true story in the beginning), it helps to establish the "credibility" and "sincerity" of what you're actually watching rather than just a make-believe murder tale because murder can be overrated.
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Lingers in your mind long after the end credits
Edit: I still find myself thinking about this a LOT. One of the most memorable movies I've ever seen, I can see myself still remembering this in decades. Probably the most impactful movie I've ever watched. It refuses to leave my mind, but I can't bring myself to give it 5 stars.A good movie with some really great moments bogged down by an overreliance on shock value which cheapens some scenes. Compared to some of Sono's other movies, I found that some of the shocking scenes didn't have as much artistic merit and it detracted from the experience.
Absolutely insane performances from everybody, the two leads being the standouts. Denden's Yukio Murata was well acted and terrifying but Kippei Shiina's Joe Murata was the better Murata imo. Mitsuru Fukikoshi's Shamoto was an interesting character and very well acted. Some scenes were genuinely chilling. The visuals were also nice in general and the soundtrack was also well used. The Skater's Waltz can be really scary (⓿_⓿).
Really uncomfortable and unnerving watch which I found more fucked than The Forest of Love. I think the reason I prefer The Forest of Love is because it was done with more sense and more tastefully, as tastefully as intense gore can be I guess. It felt like things had purpose and a meaning. I guess the point of this is it felt like it didn't have purpose or meaning. Interested to watch more Sono, he is an interesting director. If you can't stomach gore, absolutely do not watch this. This is definitely something that will linger with me for a long time.
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