I definitely can understand people who disliked this film. But one thing is for sure: It offers a lot of thought provoking stuff to talk about. The story starts relatively easy going with two former school friends meeting again after years. Slowly but steadily the movie starts to evoke a bad feeling that something is going on beneath the surface and it roughly twists around and starts to become extremely evil without even having to show brutal or disgusting scenes. Ayumi Sakamoto really knows how to create an impervious atmosphere, she later said in a Q&A that she deliberately didn't use any close ups but knee shots and long shots to make sure to capture every emotion of all the present characters, so you kind of feel that you're right in the middle of it all. And it really worked! Also, little spoiler (!), she said that she didn't really write the script for the final scene but talked the actors through it all one time and then let the situation evolve its own way.
All in all I was really surprised by how well the movie was made for a debut and how good the impact of the maleficent atmosphere actually was. If you happen to like Shinya Tsukamotos movies, who she worked for as a director assistant, you should certainly give it a try!
(sorry for bad English)
All in all I was really surprised by how well the movie was made for a debut and how good the impact of the maleficent atmosphere actually was. If you happen to like Shinya Tsukamotos movies, who she worked for as a director assistant, you should certainly give it a try!
(sorry for bad English)