With a poll coming up on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best movies of 1999,I started searching round for Horror films to view from the year,and I stumbled upon the first in a long-running Japanese Horror film series that I've not heard of before,which led to me getting ready to meet Tomie.
The plot:
Unable to remember anything from the last 3 months,art student Tsukiko Izumisawa decides to attend intense therapy.Talking to therapist Dr. Hosono in a dream-like state, Tsukiko mentions a person called "Tomie." Asked about who Tomie is, Tsukiko says that she does not know anyone by that name.As Tsukiko continues her therapy sessions, Detective Harada starts investigating the school that Tsukiko attended,due to 9 fellow students and a teaching having either killed themselves or gone insane.Taking a look at the school records,Harada discovers that a student called Tomie Kawakami (nicknamed "Tomie") appears to be someone who can come back from the dead.
View on the film:
Pulling Junji Ito's Manga from the page to the screen,writer/director Ataru Oikawa takes a clinical approach,as stilted distance shots cloud the film in an eerie atmosphere,which the movie starts to sink deeper into,as Tsukiko's memory starts to clear.Backed by a superb industrial hum from Hiroshi Futami and Toshihiro Kimura,Oikawa slowly pulls away the haunting shadows to unveil Tomie in the final tense 30 minutes,with Oikawa cleverly using the build-up to give the shots of dry red blood a melancholy mood.
Sitting in on Tsukiko's therapy sessions,the screenplay by Ataru Oikawa takes a great fragmented root,by linking Tsukiko's attempt to uncover her memory with that of the police trying to solve the mystery of Tomie's origins.Kept lingering in the shadows by Oikawa for as long as possible, Miho Kanno gives a wonderful performance as Tomie,thanks to Kanno wrapping a deadly mischief making grin around Tomie,as everyone starts to discover that you can't trust Tomie.
The plot:
Unable to remember anything from the last 3 months,art student Tsukiko Izumisawa decides to attend intense therapy.Talking to therapist Dr. Hosono in a dream-like state, Tsukiko mentions a person called "Tomie." Asked about who Tomie is, Tsukiko says that she does not know anyone by that name.As Tsukiko continues her therapy sessions, Detective Harada starts investigating the school that Tsukiko attended,due to 9 fellow students and a teaching having either killed themselves or gone insane.Taking a look at the school records,Harada discovers that a student called Tomie Kawakami (nicknamed "Tomie") appears to be someone who can come back from the dead.
View on the film:
Pulling Junji Ito's Manga from the page to the screen,writer/director Ataru Oikawa takes a clinical approach,as stilted distance shots cloud the film in an eerie atmosphere,which the movie starts to sink deeper into,as Tsukiko's memory starts to clear.Backed by a superb industrial hum from Hiroshi Futami and Toshihiro Kimura,Oikawa slowly pulls away the haunting shadows to unveil Tomie in the final tense 30 minutes,with Oikawa cleverly using the build-up to give the shots of dry red blood a melancholy mood.
Sitting in on Tsukiko's therapy sessions,the screenplay by Ataru Oikawa takes a great fragmented root,by linking Tsukiko's attempt to uncover her memory with that of the police trying to solve the mystery of Tomie's origins.Kept lingering in the shadows by Oikawa for as long as possible, Miho Kanno gives a wonderful performance as Tomie,thanks to Kanno wrapping a deadly mischief making grin around Tomie,as everyone starts to discover that you can't trust Tomie.