Blessing Bell (2002) User Reviews

Caught somewhere between pretentious and amusing

[hypersquared · 6/10 · 16 December 2003]

After a screening of this picture at the AFI Fest, a man from the audience stood up and implored the rest of us to post reviews here on the IMDb. I'm not sure that my comments are what he was hoping for, but here they are:

In the opening scene, a Japanese man walks away from his former place of employment, a just-closed factory, and without speaking a word for two days, witnesses at least two suicides, rescues a baby from a burning building, is charged with and then cleared of murder, wins the lottery, loses the money, sees a ghost, and has at least two or three other amazing and improbable encounters. And I don't really know what to say about it.

I'm usually not stumped like this, but I really don't know if I kind of liked it, or if I absolutely hated it. I can't tell if it was silly and pretentious, or ironic and vaguely amusing. It was going for a minimalist absurdism. That's clear, but I rarely managed more than a kind of snort for a laugh. Visually, the movie was elegant, but not exactly imaginative. There was a lot of Jarmusch and Beckett going on, but I'm not sure I can tell what Sabu himself brought to the party.

The ending, oddly, feels like the movie's saving grace, but even that, when all is said and done -- and please excuse the spoilers -- is basically an inversion of that old junior-high Super-8 filmmaker's scenario: "it was all a dream." In 8th grade, the standard premise was, a bunch of weird s**t happens to the hero and then the hero wakes up. In Sabuland, a bunch of weird s**t happens, and the hero goes home and tells his wife all about it. I should have been p****d off that the whole movie had been setting me up for this kind of one-off joke, but it was actually such a relief after the insufferably mannered ninety minutes which preceded it, that I upgraded my audience ballot rating from "fair" to "good."

Brilliant but perhaps too subtle for its own good.

[thatoldfool · 9/10 · 13 July 2004]

*WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Blessing Bell is a brilliant, subtle movie which is almost too brilliant and subtle for its own good. It tells the story of a man on a walk who, during the course of his walk, experiences many unprobable encounters, such as getting hit by a car, or winning the lottery, yet never says a word, and just keeps on walking - until he gets to a lake - and then he walks home.

Yet it is the meaning behind these actions, these events, which will leave the symbol- searcher pleased, and the entertainment seeker somewhat disappointed. Symbolically, there are two major themes: the first reverses the saying 'life goes on,' and applies it to our protagonist. Our protagonist goes on, and it is life itself that has a series of misadventures, in a human-like arc. However, in the morning, after having fallen into a literal depression, things are all right again, and the man returns home rejuvenated, having found what he was looking for, and as a man once more.

The second symbol is one of movement, of transportation. The man's shoes are worn yet comfortable, perfect for long walks. The policeman never walks, but always rides a bicycle, a mechanism of society. The single mom has fancy shoes, reflecting her insincerity and her desire for wealth. The man who commits suicide leaves his stiff, perfectly polished dress- shoes behind on the bridge, reflecting his own inability to relax, and to cope with casual life. And these are but a fraction of the movement-related symbols within the film.

Tone and mood wise, the film feels like a visual "My Dinner With André," simple, yet profound, although Blessing Bell adds more light humour and removes the Wally character. Due to this, some people might find the film too slow, as it by no means forces itself on you, but rather lets you take from it what you will.

Where the film really shines, however, is during its conclusion, and it is the finale which saves it from being something only film students might enjoy. The serious tone disappears, and is replaced with light, simple humour - the sort that arises when one is in a perfect, good- natured mood, and things can only go one's way. Yes, life is serious, and there is suffering, yet despite all that - or perhaps because of it - life is also perfectly imperfect.

I rate this film a reserved 9 out of 10, as although it is an excellent film, it is not necessarily an entertaining film. It is recommended primarily for those who sat through My Dinner With André, although those who are open minded and patient might enjoy it as well.

The ZEN in the form of a movie

[kazan-bandi · 10/10 · 25 December 2006]

I think it's a shame how underrated this movie is. Its slow pace, little conversation, even less action and not specific topic doesn't make it easy to understand and "digest", especially not for people who are not used to art movies, but nobody should call this a bad or boring movie just because he didn't understand it.

SABU, director of masterpieces like Drive, Postman blues, Monday or Unlucky Monkey, didn't use so much of his famous dark, absurd and grotesque humor and of very sad and dramatic scenes either (which are typical for his other movies). This movie is very balanced, very harmonic, very peaceful. Susumu Terajima, who has small roles in other Sabu movies, is the main character here. I love him and his style and his very minimal but professional and essential acting makes the movie even better.

The story is about a man who goes to work, finds that the factory is closed down, therefore goes and wanders around for a day and a night, then goes back home. Some interesting things happen to him during this, but not very much compared to the time he spends sitting or walking or just standing and staring.

So what's this all about? No action, very little humor, very little drama, but why did someone make a movie like this? The answer is that it's REALLY very important that the movie is slow paced and only a few things happen. The main character says nothing during the 95% of the movie! He just observes, and then, if necessary, acts. He doesn't judge, doesn't interfere. He gains some money from someone who doesn't need it then he loses it. So what. He have had it and now he doesn't have it, and that's all. Accepting everything. That's the zen philosophy. Looking at the world as it is, looking at the pure form, at the real meaning of things. There is some scenes connected with sins and jealousy and money and sickness and death and love, but it's kept very simple. It's all about life but it's not direct at all, the thinking part is up to you, the viewer, nothing is explained, and that's why it works so wonderful and also why so many people don't understand it.

Very much worth seeing if you're into art movies or if you're keen on Sabu and if you're interested in Zen.

It is not at all a mistake made by your Video Cassette Recorder.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 10/10 · 18 July 2007]

How would you react to a film in which the last scene becomes its first scene ? Impossible,no no no,how can that be true ......These will surely be some of the most common refrains to be heard if a question like this is asked.However there is a surprise in store here.Blessing Bell directed by Sabu aka Hiroyuki Tanaka,one of the most talented Japanese actor cum filmmaker has made that impossible possible by using some of the most innovative yet down to earth techniques like no sound,black humor and minimalist film-making. He is ably supported in this endeavor by Susumu Terajima who has appeared in a couple of films made by great modern day master of Japanese cinema Takeshi Kitano.A lesson about life is to be learned as Blessing Bell has a good collection of scenes of daily lives which enable us to lead a life full of spiritual richness.Your VCR is at no fault if you find the repetitive nature of some scenes. They are very well the integral part of this film.

Let's watch grass grow instead!

[awanders · 4/10 · 25 June 2005]

This movie must appeal to a very specific audience. And apparently, I do not belong to that group. I saw Blessing Bell last night and to me it just doesn't make any sense. And here's why. Possible spoilers ahead:

Storyline: There seems to be no storyline in this movie. Or at least, I could not detect it. As the protagonist wanders from event to event, the only common factor of these events is the main character himself. The motivations for his actions in these scenes (such as fishing the shoe, going to jail) are obscure to me. Mostly, terrible things happen. People get stabbed, others die or commit suicide. Everybody except the old man's spirit seems to be terribly downtrodden. Come on people, remember Eric Idle! Always look on…

Dialogues: At first the fact that the protagonist does not speak when spoken to seems interesting but it just gets really tiresome real fast. But I can't figure out what is worse, the main character not responding to anything said or the fact that the people who talk to him don't care. They seem to be happy enough to talk at him instead of to him.

Tempo: This movie was too slow for me. I don't mind slow paced movies, but a low tempo doesn't have to mean that there is nothing going on. A lot can happen when nothing is happening. Blessing Bell is just slow. And that makes watching this movie tedious work.

But as I have said, maybe this movie isn't for me. Maybe this is considered a very good movie indeed by critics. But maybe I am right and Blessing Bell can be considered a mediocre movie at best