Under Your Bed (2019)

This movie spreads light on many controversial matters, from obsessive stalking to domestic abuse, the movie follows Mitsui Naoto who’s rather distant towards other people, until a girl named Chihiro is the first person to really pay attention to him, the story progresses after 11 years where they are no longer in contact when he sees her again, this story outlined the loneliness the two felt, from chihiro suffering from abuse from her own husband, and Naoto’s lack of socialisation. The movie is structured through narration that mirrors Naoto’s true feelings, his feelings go against his actions and stalking of Chihiro, the way he expresses himself feels genuine and how he means to do good for her sake but they are morally wrong. Despite this you could not help but feel bad for him, the only reason he went through this was to be remembered by one person..her.
The acting was really phenomenal, the female lead was amazing at portraying the development of her character. The movie was really nicely put together, it was more emotional than I was expecting a unique short movie about loneliness

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This is actually a hard film to watch and recommend. Because of that, please do check the tags before watching. This is a complicated film to talk about since is deals with domestic abuse. However, it's an important film.

It follows a man who starts stalking someone he previously went to university with, only to find out that she's a victim of domestic abuse. The ML (Naoto) isn't necessarily a great character. For one, he stalks her, and invades her privacy, and even befriends her. Whilst this isn't told from the perspective of the victim (the FL - Chihiro) , we are still able to catch glimpses, from the Naoto's perspective, where you can see how her trauma affects her. And the abuse does get very graphic, which is why I tend to skip over those parts if I do re-watch it. However, the choice not to censor it is important in my opinion, because it shows what victims experience, and it shouldn't just be sugar-coated.

Another thing I would like to mention is memory, and one's perception of their own memory. Without going into much detail, we see many flashbacks of their university days and the interactions they had. Seeing the importance of those interactions explains why (not justifies) why he chose to stalk her after seeing her all those years later.

There's also a slight plot twist at one point which I thought was interesting and engaging. There is also another side character whose is slightly eccentric. In my opinion, the importance of his character is to show he people (including him and Naoto) latch onto something in times of need and in turn, they provide an emotional anchor for them. However, in this case, it isn't as simple as finding a band through a song that means a lot to you. Here, we see the extreme version, along with the extreme choices some people will make, especially if that anchor is being threatened to be taken away from them.

If this is something you are interested in, please check it out. Because of this film that I first watched last year, I have gained an interest in the main characters. Also, I hope you like my analysis in the paragraph above and are able to take away your own meaning from this film in the same way I have :)

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