Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time?

Hello, sweethearts! 💜

Heh, it's been a while, hasn't it?

I'm really sorry for the long, unannounced hiatus. If you follow me on Twitter, then you know why I had to step back a little, but if you don't: this academic term was a massive shitshow with all the exams, assignments, my bachelor thesis (which, at the moment of writing this, isn't finished yet, and probably won't be soon...) and, on top of everything, my both physical and mental health suddenly failing. However, I'm doing a bit better now (or at least trying), so while I can't promise I'll publish new stuff regularly here, I'll try to do my best!

Despite many problems in my life, I couldn't not let myself go to a few screenings during this year's New Horizons IFF. And while I planned to write my coming-back-to-life post about this year's Eurovision, one of the festival movies was so interesting, I felt the urge to review it the moment I left the cinema (don't worry about the ESC though – I will write the posts. No idea, when, but I will. I promise).

That movie was "Hatching".

Don't ask me how to read the original Finnish name, I have no bloody idea.

"Hatching" is a debut movie by the director Hanna Bergholm. The story follows a young gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), who's living a seemingly perfect life with her mother (Sophia Heikkilä), a family vlogger, her father (Jani Volanen) and her younger brother Matias (Oiva Ollila). After an incident with a bird breaching into the family's house, Tinja finds an orphaned egg. She decides to take care of it and, later, of the bird-like creature that hatched from it – Alli. Things quickly turn ugly when it turns out that Alli will do everything to protect her caretaker – murder included...

 

The premise suggests that it's Alli, who's the main provider of horror in this film. And while she definitely has her moments (I'll talk about that later), she's not the main monster here. It's Tinja's mother. While she may seem kind on the surface, in fact she's a tyrant, who uses her family to fulfil her wishes. All she's doing is to keep the facade of having ideal family life to gain followers for her blog. At the same time she doesn't care about other people. It's especially visible in the way she treats Tinja. She pushes her to train as much as possible (despite the fact Tinja doesn't even like gymnastics that much!) just so her daughter would do good at the tournament and, so she could stream it. I have to admit, the portrayal of how toxic the mother is is extremely realistic here. Even when she seems to be behave nicely, you can easily see that she's doing it only to make Tinja act as she wants. Fuck, even, when she praises her daughter, she scolds her at the same time, constantly suggesting that she can do better. 

Some people may suggest that the mother is doing that because, due to her own life history, she wants to live through Tinja... Or because she was kept to incredibly high standards in her youth and is now perpetuating it. I'll be honest: I don't buy this explanation. The mother keeps abusing Tinja even after noticing that something is off, more, she uses it against her daughter, blaming her for all failures. She's a cold-blooded manipulator who only cares about herself and would do everything to get what she wants, even destroy lives of people around her. To me, there's no excuse for her behaviour, no redemption. She's just a bad parent.

Seriously, I can't remember when was the last time I hated a movie character this much. Fuck her.

All that treatment has a very bad impact on Tinja. She's just a child, determined to get approval of her parents. She's doing everything her mother wants, pushing herself harder and harder just to be worthy of mother's love. Even, when she's tired or upset, she doesn't show that to not destroy the illusion of perfection. This toxic relationship is reflected in the way Tinja treats Alli. Tinja doesn't get love she needs, so she loves Alli a lot. She cares about her "daughter", dedicates her time and energy to her, compliments her. Even, when Alli does horrific shit, Tinja still loves her. And Alli loves her back... Which is another reason why Tinja gets so attached to her – she knows Alli won't judge her.

Of course, Alli is still a monster. She doesn't understand a lot of human behaviours. She's often driven by animal instincts. And yet, she can act more human than Tinja's mother. It's especially visible in one of the late scenes, where Tinja, upset with Alli's actions, starts hitting herself to punish her (they have some kind of physical link and share senses) – violence is something Tinja has picked up from her mother. What does Alli do? She stops Tinja and hugs her until she calms down. She handles the situation much better, than Tinja's mother would, whose primary reaction is always anger.

I absolutely melted at all the scenes where Tinja cares for Alli. The whole movie may be pretty disturbing, but the love between them is really cute.

Tinja isn't the only person affected by mother's behaviour. Let's focus a little on the father. He comes off as passive, not stopping the mother from terrorising their children, not really wanting to even spend time with his family. However, it's easy to see that he's quite miserable and just lets the mother do what she wants to appease her. He's been living under her foot for so long, he doesn't care any more. He just wants some peace. One may ask why the hell did he marry her in the first place... But there's no evidence she behaved like that earlier. And people change. A lot.

There's also Tinja's brother, Matias. To be honest, I'm a bit conflicted about his character. On one hand, he's a whiny, spoiled brat, who constantly demands things from his parents and harasses his sister (the scene with the dog, holy shit, the scene with the dog!). During whole screening he was pissing me off immensely and I'd lie if I said I didn't hope for something to finally eat him. But on the other... He's a younger brother to a seemingly perfect child, Tinja. Their mother cares only about her and her gymnastic career. Their father doesn't do anything to help with that. No surprise Matias turned out the way he did. He most likely wasn't taught basic empathy. Also, deep inside, he must be as miserable, as everyone else. And can't express that, because again – no-one bothered to teach him.

Really, this family is fucked up as a whole... Which is probably the scariest thing about this whole story.

Psychological aspects aren't the only scary thing in "Hatching". This film is categorised as body horror for a good reason. With progress of the story, Alli gradually changes from a bird-like monster into a mirror image of Tinja (played by the same actress) and each stage is incredibly graphic. There is blood, deformed face, teeth poking out from where they shouldn't... The characterisation is stellar, everything looks really realistic. Siiri Solalinna also does a wonderful job as an actress – Alli moves and acts like a feral animal, which makes her very unsettling to watch.

This doesn't mean Alli isn't scary as a bird, though. Her first form is "played" by an animatronic – no CGI (or very little, I'm not sure) here. Because of that she's very real and her interactions with Tinja look natural. At the same time, she moves in a mechanical, erratic way, which adds a layer of uncanniness to her.

The sound design is great too. Alli doesn't speak, but she's still loud. Really loud. She gurgles, screeches or yells. And I can assure you, the blood-curling screams she makes, especially near the end of the movie, will make you shiver.

Alli is just awesome as a whole. Definitely my new favourite horror creature.

"Hatching" is really well paced, with good editing and the ending offering a very satisfying closure. It's a pleasure to watch (as much as a horror dealing with so many uncomfortable topics can be a pleasure) and I enjoyed it a lot. Do I recommend it? Of course! However, remember that this film runs on body horror and has some very triggering scenes related to animals (like the dog one...), so better check the triggers before seeing it.

Still, I think "Hatching" will join my collection of favourite movies. I loved it!

Image sources:

Poster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hatching_(film).jpeg

All stills were screenshot by me from the official trailer and belong to Nordisk Film and IFC Midnight.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/VtRNqe78x4o

The wildest cinematography in the world

Sion Sono has already made an appearance on this blog – as you may remember, I reviewed his "Love Exposure" in February 2021. Because of that, I had already expected "Red Post on Escher Street" to be truly wild ride. And I wasn't disappointed.

 

More, I loved it.

Sono's craziness my beloved.

Similarly to "Love Exposure", it's hard to describe the plot of "Red Post on Escher Street". While it isn't that long ("only" 2,5 hours), there's still a lot of happening. It tells a story of a new movie of Tadashi Kobayashi (Tatsuhiro Yamaoka), a very known and liked director. Kobayashi decides to cast amateurs instead of experienced actors and organises a giant audition. It catches attention of many people, who'd love to star in the film, including an independent theatre troupe, a little loony Kobayashi's fanclub, Yasuko Yabuki (Sen Fujimaru), a lady who stopped giving a fuck about anything some time ago, and Kiriko (Matsuki Kohira), a widow, who wants to follow steps of her deceased husband, an actor. As expected, during the audition (and later filming) chaos ensues, additionally fuelled by Kobayashi's own struggles with screenwriting and his battles with selfish movie producers.

 

Thanks to the overall idea revolving around auditions, there are many characters introduced. Actually, two thirds of the movie are basically character introductions. However, all of them are developed, have a unique backstory and serve a certain role in the plot. And while the huge number may seem hard to follow at first, thanks to them all being fleshed out and very different from each other, it's impossible to confuse them. All of them also have some impact on the finale, which ties all storylines and provides a very satisfactory ending to the whole movie.

Sono really did the impossible here.

This all wouldn't be possible without a good pacing. The movie is dynamic, but doesn't advance too quickly, allowing viewers to focus on important plot points and learn better about the characters. There are also some elements that repeat from time to time, like sending a letter via the titular red post or recurring subplot with construction workers blocking the road, which offers something familiar in the clusterfuck of events and helps organize it. Because of that, while there's always a lot happening, it's not tiring or overwhelming.

The acting is great too. Whole cast brings the best out of their quirky characters. They're very emotional and often overdramatize, but it matches the tone of the movie. It is supposed to be loud and overdramatized... Similarly to the film made by Kobayashi – from the fragments we can see, there's a lot of shouting and exalted behaviour in it, which may be a some kind of a meta joke about Sion Sono's own works.

In general, this movie is one, big meta commentary on filmmaking. Sono actually admitted, that some of the subplots were inspired by his own experiences – the arguments with producers being the best example. Kobayashi himself is also a good example of a realistic portrayal of an artist – he wants to create, but is burned out, struggles with artblock (which is why it's later Katako, his friend, who takes over writing the script for his newest movie) and has to fight with expectancies of other people and their attempts of meddling with his work. I have to admit that the scene, where he finally loses his shit, is extremely relatable to me – there's nothing worse than when you're trying to work, but others are constantly disturbing you...

Being an artist is hard. Period.

"Red Post on Escher Street" is a one wild movie. It's loud, colourful and, at the same time, just full of love. Despite the difficulties, Sion Sono loves what he's doing and you can feel it in this movie. I don't want to go into cheesy claptrap, but this work is an awesome love letter to the cinema as a whole. An absolutely enjoyable one.

I just love it.

Image sources:

Poster: https://twitter.com/escher_akaipost/status/1466252030192893954

All stills were screenshot by me from the official trailer and belong to Hikoki Films International and AMG Entertainment.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp8iF9v54KU

Mechanophilia or Kiki has seen "Titane" (and feels conflicted)

Content warning: this post includes topics like sex, pregnancy and body horror. Reader discretion is advised.

I'll try not to spoil too much, but it's hard when talking about such film, so sorry if there are minor spoilers.

Anyway.

"Titane" was a total mystery to me. Trailer doesn't reveal much, so do the official summaries. Because of that I avoided any reviews, so I wouldn't accidentally spoil myself any important plot details. As a result I walked into the cinema knowing almost nothing... And, despite getting rather surprised, totally didn't regret it.

I wanted to say it's the best way to watch this movie, but it can be pretty triggering, so checking it first is a better idea.

The protagonist, Alexia, is introduced as a child. After she and her father get into a car crash, her skull gets fractured and the doctors need to implant a titanium plate into it. Years later adult Alexia (Agathe Rouselle) works as a stripper at a car show. One night she gets stalked by a creep claiming to be her fan and, after not being able to make him leave, kills him.

 

Let's stop here for a moment.

 

To be honest, at first I thought Alexia killed this guy in self defence. She stabbed him with a metal hair stick – thing she had on her hand. Her putting said stick back into her hair and showering only after she noticed the victim vomited all over her looked like she was in shock. Well, as movie quickly showed, it was not the case. Shortly after we see Alexia murder several other people. With the same stick. It establishes her as a serial killer, who is only mentioned earlier, and is one of two things that kick starts the proper plot. The other one?

On the same night she killed that creep, Alexia also got impregnated by her own car.

Have I mentioned it's only the beginning?

Running from the police, Alexia decides to change her appearance (which involves not only cutting her hair short and shaving her eyebrows, but also breaking her nose) and impersonate Adrien Legrand – long lost son of Vincent Legrand (Vincent Lindon), an old firefighter. As it turns out, it's harder than expected: while Vincent doesn't doubt for a moment that she's his son, she still has to dodge suspicions of his co-workers, his wife... And also somehow hide her rapidly progressing pregnancy.

You know, for a movie about sex with a car there's very little sex and cars. It all gets squeezed into two scenes during first act: the audiovisually pleasing and incredibly erotic show and quite weird car sex scene (if you are now wondering how is it even possible... Well, I don't know. Despite the film being pretty graphic in general, not everything is shown). Rest of the story focuses on Alexia's attempts to hide her true identity and growing bond between her and Vincent. Her character development is done quite smoothly. You can spot the first major change when she, despite having perfect opportunity to do so, can't bring herself to kill him. Later she gradually trusts him, which culminates in the ending when she asks him for help during her most vulnerable moment.

But don't expect a heartwarming family story, it's still a thriller.

"Titane" is categorized as body horror and actually lives up to it. What hit me while watching was how realistic this movie is. When Alexia kills we are usually shown everything: blood, vomiting, aftermath of smashing guy's skull with a stool. And when she binds her breast with elastic bandage, she ends with red marks and, later, lesions on her skin – an issue often overlooked when portraying a chest-binding (and also an actual reason why using elastic bandages for binding is a very bad idea. Don't do it, sweethearts, get a proper binder instead). Of course, one may argue that there are movies with much more gore... But it isn't the point here. The movie isn't intended to gross us out, at least not by this. The part that actually shocks the most is the pregnancy... But not only because of its supernatural origin.

You see, despite what media often try to tell us, pregnancy is scary. Even when going right it horribly messes with the body. The movie shows that – Alexia vomits, gets large stretch marks on both her abdomen and chest, later she starts spontaneously lactating. Of course, the squickiness is upped by supernatural elements: she doesn't lactate milk, but oil, and said stretch marks end tearing her skin, revealing metal placenta underneath. However, the basis is the same as in real life.

That's why asking someone why they don't have children is the shittiest thing in the world. Maybe they just don't want to get pregnant?!

I like how "Titane" plays with viewer's expectations by unexpectedly changing mood during the most dramatic scenes. First we have the moment when Alexia murders her co-worker, Justine (Garance Marillier) and her housemates. The intensity of events is suddenly "ruined" by upbeat song playing in the background. Then it gets serious again... Only for new people constantly enter the scene, which makes Alexia blurt "How fucking many of you is here?!". Her annoyance clashes with gruesomeness of murders, making the scene hilarious.

Another example happens near the ending, when Alexia takes part in a disco with firefighters. Mix of loud music, flashing colours and moving bodies is hypnotizing and a little unsettling. At one point two guys catch Alexia and make her climb up the fire truck. Whole crowd starts urging her to jump, everything looks like she will do it... But she doesn't. Instead she starts dancing a strip routine, which confuses the hell out of everyone. The awkwardness and general WTFness of this moment first throw the audience off the balance and then becomes quite funny.

The fact Alexia doesn't give a flying fuck about whole situation definitely helps.

I have to admit, I enjoyed "Titane" a lot. It surprised me: I expected a gory, artsy mindfuck and got a disturbing, but still rather comprehensible story. However, I don't know, if I can recommend it to anyone. On one hand it's nicely paced, well done technically and brilliantly alternates between drama and comedy, between straight body horror and psychologically distressing motives. The actors did great. The score matches the events. It's just a solid piece of filmmaking. But on the other hand there's still, well, gore and disturbing content and the fact I enjoyed it so much probably steams from the fact how desensitised I am when it comes to fucked up shit in art. I mean, people were fainting when viewing it in Cannes and I don't blame them, some scenes were nasty (like the one with attempted DIY abortion, everything was off-screen, but the acting really sold it). Damn, in the cinema I was sitting next to a guy who looked quite uncomfortable during screening (but still watched whole thing, so points for him for persistence... Or stubbornness, one of two). So yeah, despite my fondness I really can't recommend it with clear conscience.

 

Or let's word it this way: if this review made you interested in watching "Titane", then I'm taking no responsibility for it. Proceed on your own risk.

Good luck.

Image sources:

Poster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titane_poster.jpeg

All stills were screenshot from the official trailer and belong to Diaphana Distribution and Altitude Film Distribution.

The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epoyDw8EU9I

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb... child

You've probably known me for a while, so I think it's not a surprise that I enjoy weird indie movies. The weirder, the better. That's probably why "Lamb" appeared on my radar. I've seen news about it on Bloody Disgusting, watched the trailer and was like "woah, this is some fucked up shit, I need to see it!". The fact A24, ergo the guys who brought us "Midsommar", is the distributor only fed my interest. Fortunately, "Lamb" was part of 2021 the New Horizons IFF, which means I had a chance to see it in the cinema.

 

So I did.

And it both did and didn't meet my expectations.

I wanted to make here a joke about Schrödinger's film, but it sounded funnier in my head than when I wrote it down.

"Lamb" tells a story of Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), a married couple living on a farm in the middle of Icelandic nowhere. As expected, they spend most time tending to the crops and taking care of giant flock of sheep. Their serene life gets disturbed when one of the sheep gives birth to a weird hybrid: human infant with lamb's head and arm. Having no children of their own, the couple names the baby Ada and decides to take care of her. However, things get complicated when the farm is visited by Ingvar's brother, Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson).

Kind of.

 

I won't say that nothings happens in this movie, but if you expected a lot of action, you'll be disappointed. The story progresses slowly and for most of the time we observe characters doing mundane things like performing their chores or having a meal. Sometimes humans aren't even present and we're treated with shots focusing on animals or landscapes. While we are at it, the animals – sheep, a dog and a cat – tell us sometimes more than we get from human characters. Their reactions give first hints at some sinister force lurking around that we don't see until much, much later.

I hope the dog or the cat will get at least an Oscar nomination, they were awesome.

The unwritten rule of filmmaking states "Show, don't tell". "Lamb" goes several steps further and doesn't do both. It creates a very distressing atmosphere of uncertainty: we know something is happening, but can't see what exactly or what caused that. Damn, even the baby isn't shown whole at first, but Maria and Ingvar taking care of her like it was a human child clues that it isn't an ordinary lamb. The creepiness is upped by their not questioning anything. Instead of going usual film main characters' way and investigate weird occurrences, they just shrug them off and go on with their routines. And when an occurrence turns into a nuisance? They just deal with it the most straightforward method possible and then behave like nothing happened. The only character who gets confused by the weirdness is Pétur... For a while. Later he too starts to accept reality as it is.

Despite film's reserve, there's still a lot of storytelling. Straightforwardness is just replaced with focus on characters. We don't get a clear backstory for Maria and Ingvar, but the way they behave and feel while confronting the happenings suggests a lot. And there's a lot of feelings – psychological takes with focus on actors' faces are often. This way we can understand them (as much as the movie lets us that is) without any additional exposition.

Thanks to storytelling not relying on dialogues the movie gets really intensive at times. We watch the events unwind with no explanation, accompanied with loud musical score suggesting that something big is happening. Similarly to "Suspiria" and "Midsommar", "Lamb" tends to assault our senses, making even seemingly peaceful scenes filled with dread.

I'm so glad I could watch it on a big screen, it was a wonderful experience.

When it comes to visual side, "Lamb" has a very melancholic atmosphere . The scenes are either set in a cramped farmhouse or among beautiful, but empty landscapes, often covered with fog. The colours are usually bland, making the shots a little depressing. At the same time, there's a lot of ethereal beauty in it, in the peace that comes with the melancholy.

If not for rather disturbing uncanniness of events, I'd say this movie is quite relaxing.

But it isn't. Instead of relax, there is anxiety.

Okay, I'm praising the movie a lot, but what's the thing that didn't meet my expectations? (Except the fact I thought it'd be a horror. It's not... I mean, it's not scary. At all. Uneasiness and scariness are two different things). Of course it's the ending, which is horribly detached from the rest.

I mean, don't get me wrong: it makes sense. Kinda, it makes as much sense as it can in the movie like this. It seems to provide a logical conclusion to earlier events and is properly foreshadowed. However, it breaks the fundamental rule of the film: don't show. It doesn't explain much, but it directly shows the "force" that kickstarted the plot and was later stalking the characters. And holy shit, it's so out-of-place I was just sitting there, thinking "what the actual FUCK?!". The fact it involves some very bad CGI, which contrasts a lot with movie's natural visuals doesn't help. It's weird (but not in a good sense, it's weird in a very bad, bad sense), it looks unnatural and it disrupts the atmosphere with the sudden straightforwardness.

Such a shame.

Why so many good movies have disappointing endings? Why?!

In general, I enjoyed the movie. If you like unusual, slow-paced indie stuff, then give "Lamb" a watch. It's a really interesting experience.

If you don't count the ending. Holy shit, the ending...

Image sources:

Movie poster: http://www.impawards.com/intl/iceland/2021/lamb.html

All stills were screenshot from the official trailer and belong to A24.

The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEwJKVWjFM

Bible and panties or y'all need a sexuologist

Content warning: this post deals with topics like religion and sexuality.

 

There are movies that are quite easy to write about. You watch them, have some thoughts about them, write it down, post, done. There are also movies that are horrible to write about, because no matter how long you will sit at the computer, thinking, you can't form any coherent sentences. Sometimes it's because they make no sense at all. Sometimes there is so little content in the film itself, it's impossible to write about it at all.

Sion Sono's "Love Exposure" doesn't belong to any of these categories. I mean, it is a reviewer's nightmare, but for completely different reasons. It makes sense. Painfully a lot of sense. And yeah, it has loads of content. Four hours of content so tightly packed that after I finished watching, my only thought was "how the fuck am I supposed to write about it?!".

To be honest, I don't know if I should put spoiler alert here. I mean, yeah, I will probably give out some plot twists... But it's hard to pinpoint what is a spoiler and what is not when the film is that long and has so many subplots, so... Nah, let's just state you're proceeding on your own risk, okay?

To be honest, this is one, big "Proceed at your own risk: The Movie", but for different reasons.

In the beginning we're introduced to Yū – a boy living with his loving parents, who also happen to be devoted Catholics. They bring him up in faith, his mother even tells him that he should find himself a girlfriend, who is like Virgin Mary. When Yū is still a child, his mother dies. Some time later, his father, Tetsu, becomes a priest and they both start living at the presbytery. However, family bliss gets disrupted when Tetsu falls for a new worshipper in his church, Kaori, with whom he starts secretly dating. Three months later Kaori gets tired of keeping their relationship secret and leaves him for a younger man. Heartbroken, Tetsu changes and from loving father and kind priest he turns into a monster. Not only his sermons become more and more scary, he also starts pestering Yū to confess his sins daily. Having nothing serious to confess (he's just a highschooler, actually a very sensitive one), he first starts lying about it and committing petty mischiefs and then, when Tetsu still isn't satisfied, Yū starts committing crimes, so he would have sins to confess. This is how he meets Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai – three delinquents, who find his antics amusing and introduce him to the gang they're in. Later all four get involved in tōsatsu – taking photos of underwear of unsuspecting women. When, some time later, they're comparing photos, Yū loses a bet on whose photo is better. As a punishment he has to go out dressed in women's clothes, find a girl he likes, kiss her and confess her love. This is how he meets Yōko – a girl he falls in love from the first sight, his "Virgin Mary". However, there are two problems. Primo, Yōko falls in love with Miss Sasori – Yū's drag alter ego. Secundo, everything that happens seems to be overseen and partially orchestrated by Koike – mysterious second-in-command of a shady cult, Church Zero, who seems to be infatuated with Yū and, who swears to make Yū's family join Church Zero.

And if you think that I've already told you whole movie, no, I haven't. This is roughly first hour. First of four.

Four hours and not a single minute of boredom! Amazing, isn't it?

While Yū is the main character of the movie, during first half the point of view alternates between him, Yōko and Koike. All three talk about their pasts and narrate through several events. Thanks to that we quickly learn that, despite coming from completely different families, they have a lot in common. Firstly, they all got hurt by their fathers: Yū was constantly tormented to confess (actually, quite common thing in catholic church, but I'll talk about it later), Koike was beaten, because of her "sinful body" and Yōko was molested. Thanks to that, they all have problems understanding and expressing love and desire. What's interesting, Yōko is the only one from all three, who is able to come to terms with her sexuality. Of course, her hatred towards all men (except Kurt Cobain, he's cool) is very unhealthy, but understandable. Also, when she realises she may be a lesbian and is in love with Miss Sasori, after initial confusion (which is totally normal, it's her first serious crush after all) she calmly accepts it. More, she happily flirts with Sasori, wants to keep in touch with her and celebrates her feelings. She just behaves like a normal teenager in love, which contrasts a lot with Yū's and Koike's obsessions.

Generally, most of characters' problems come from their lack of sexual education and, generally, repressing their sexualities. The most obvious one is Tetsu. As a priest he has to live in celibate, but he's not capable of doing so and, when Kaori starts courting him, he quickly complies. Later he can't accept that he has so little self-control and lashes out on his son. Yū was brought up in a purity culture and has no idea what's going on with his body, mistaking desire and true love (especially visible in his monologues about erection and Yōko's panties). Also, instead of looking for a partner, a person he would like and feel safe with, he's fixated on a Virgin Mary archetype and, when he finally finds his "Mary", gets completely obsessed with her. He doesn't understand that Yōko isn't interested in him and, instead of telling her the truth about Miss Sasori and moving on, he keeps the masquerade. No surprise that later Yōko feels incredibly betrayed by him.

Koike is the most interesting case here. At first glance, she seems to be a typical antagonist. She's a cold-blooded manipulator, who plays with people like with puppets. She even sees other cultists as expendable resources. There is a reason for this, though: all Koike's psychopathic tendencies come form the fact she was abused as a child. Her father drove her mad and, later, Church Zero finished the job with their brainwashing. She finds Yū interesting, because of their similarities. She also develops an obsession with her object of desire and later, when she realises she can't get him no matter what, she breaks down violently. Damn, even before this she starts slowly losing her composure, the biggest example being the scene when she plays with her pet bird, repeating the same mantra her father used to make her say. However, at the same time, Koike often seems to be the only reasonable character in the movie. She is right, when she calls Yū out for his lies or blames Tetsu for his son's behaviour.

For me, she's one of the most sympathetic characters here, just after Yōko.

I like how this movie portrays most problematic parts of Catholicism. Actually, from what I've observed (I'm speaking from a perspective of a person living in Poland, I don't know how it looks like in other countries), this religion tends to be very guilt-tripping, and destroying people's sense of self-worth is a common practice. I can't count how many times I was told to go to confession despite having nothing to confess... And how many times I later heard, that something completely normal is deemed sinful. Like, you know, being young, full of hormones and being interested in sex. The "we're sinful and can't see this, which is even worse" approach is real and extremely toxic – instead of focusing on good things and our own personal growth, we have to constantly think about how horrible we are (even, if we're just being human), because if we don't do that, then we are proud and this is a sin. And we can't sin, 'cause even if we are good people, it'll send us to hell. Fuck, I'll be honest with you: thanks to constantly hearing things like that (and many other, but it's a story for different occasion) in young age, I developed some kind of Catholicism-related trauma, which I'm still fighting with. So yeah, despite the fact "Love Exposure" takes some things to its logical extreme (like Yū sinning just to be able to confess and please his father... Which can be an example of what blind devotion to the family can do to a person), its first act was uncomfortably relatable for me.

"Love Exposure" also calls out Church's hypocrisy. Firstly, we have Tetsu – a priest, who breaks celibate. Despite that, he still has no problem for yelling and even beating Yū, after he learns about his engagement in tōsatsu. Later, when Tetsu decides to leave priesthood, he isn't allowed to do that. You know, despite the fact he did more evil than good. Next, there are priests, whom Yū and his friends ask for help with freeing Yōko from Church Zero. They refuse, deeming helping her impossible. They also look down at boys, because they started working in porn industry some time earlier... Which is pretty ironic, given the fact that Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai are probably the most decent characters in the whole film. Of course, they aren't crystal clear: they commit various crimes, including upskirt photography, but at least they aren't malicious. They do that, because they are young, dumb and rebellious and probably don't understand fully the consequences. As people, Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai are really kind. Their friendship with Yū is genuine and they never stop supporting him (the scene, when they find Yū lying on the street in rain, take him to their hideout and comfort him, is one of the most heart-warming moments in the cinema). And call me naive, but I think that if, instead of just calling them perverts, someone actually explained them how harmful upskirting is, they would stop it immediately.

A group of teenage delinquents being nicer characters than priests? Why am I not surprised?

"Love Exposure" was meant to cross all lines and it does it perfectly. The most obvious is its portrayal of church and religion, which may be deemed offensive, even blasphemous. The movie also tackles really serious topics, like sexual abuse, and then drowns them in litres of fake blood and dick jokes. In general, nothing here is taken seriously. However, everything is deliberate. Immature humour is justified by main characters being horny teenagers. Exaggerated behaviour of Catholics points to real problems with religion. And shock makes it harder to forget, what the authors wanted to say.

The eccentricity is also evident in audiovisual side. Montage is very dynamic, which is amplified with a little bit shaky (and dirty. I caught myself trying to scrub a dirt from my screen, only to realise it was in the film) camera. The visual effects often look cheap and fake (fountains of bright blood are first thing that comes to mind). In general, there is a huge amount of staginess, with characters behaving over-the-top and unnatural. There is also pathos. A lot of pathos (Yōko yelling quoted from Corinthians with Beethoven in the background is unarguably my favourite moment). And weird, out-of-place visual metaphors. And it all somehow works perfectly, bringing a lot of enjoyment.

Asserting dominance via T-posing? Yeah, sure, why not?

While I enjoyed whole film, there is one thing that keeps bothering me: the epilogue. And I think it's a good moment to put here a big

SPOILER ALERT!!!

for obvious reasons.

Don't understand me wrong, the epilogue is fine... For most part. It slows down the story and smoothly closes the subplots. However, I don't like the fact that Yū and Yōko ended together. Yōko falling in love with Yū completely subverts what she was bringing into the story: an example of a person being happy with their sexuality. More, it almost feels like Yū's "true love" cured her from being a lesbian, which, even if it wasn't deliberate, still sounds homophobic (big "thank you!" to my ex-girlfriend for pointing it out, you're great). At the same time, whole Yū's character development went fuck itself: he lied and acted like a total creep and still got what he wanted. Of course, he went to hell and back for it, sacrificing his own sanity to expose Church Zero, but he did it because of his obsession with Yōko. Him getting the girl means that no matter, how much someone hates you, if you are persistent enough, you will make this person love you. Which isn't very healthy message. I think the ending would be much better, if Yōko found a nice girlfriend and moved on.

End of spoilers.

Actually, despite the ending, I really liked the movie. "Love Exposure" is a wild ride, definitely worth experiencing. However, I'm not sure if I can recommend it. If you aren't bothered by immature humour, explicitness and long runtime, then you can give it a try. But be prepared for everything.

And don't even try complaining that I didn't warn you.

Image sources:

Poster: https://asianwiki.com/File:Love_Exposure_(2008-Japan).jpg

Stills were screenshot from the official trailer and belong to movie's distributor, Omega Project.

The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmyTu2ixu_c

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Trigger warning: this post discusses fatphobia and transphobia!

 

I first heard about "Beauty Water" about three months ago, when Adum was reviewing it as a part of his Quickie about short films on Fantasia Festival. I have to admit, this title got my interest. Almost hour and a half (due to some technical issues, the version screened during the festival was a special short edit) animated Asian body horror? Totally my jam, sign me in. However, in a really short time I got dumped with university work and other stuff and completely forgot about this movie.

Fast forward to December. During one lesson my lovely Japanese teacher (if You are reading this, こんにちは! 💜) told me about an online Asian movie festival that was taking place at the time and, that she had spotted there a film I might like.

That film was "Beauty Water".

Fortunately, the festival offered an opportunity to watch a single movie without having to buy a general ticket. The price was reasonable too, so I couldn't miss the occasion. Do I regret it? Definitely not. But if you follow me on Twitter (which I recommend, I post shit regularly and even am funny sometimes), then you know that "Beauty Water" sparked some mixed feelings in me. And this is what I want to mostly talk about.

 

Before we proceed, I want to warn you this post will be spoileriffic as hell, so

SPOILER ALERT!!!

and from now on you're reading it on your own risk.

 

Really, I wanted to write this post without spoilers, but it's impossible...

 

"Beauty Water" tells the story of Yaeji – a make-up artist, who works for a famous TV Studio. Due to her weight, she had been bullied her whole life. After she fills in for an absent extra during filming of an ad, her very unflattering photos appear in the internet and she becomes a subject of cruel jokes. However, some time later she receives a package containing Beauty Water – a product she can use to change her body and facial structure. With some help of a mysterious lady, Beauty Water's distributor, Yaeji turns into a beautiful woman and, as Sulhye, begins her own career in the television. However, things don't go exactly as planned...

 

Most people would probably expect "Beauty Water" to be a typical story with an aesop, where Yaeji learns that appearance isn't everything and the most important thing is personality. However, this movie definitely isn't typical in both the story (which is based on a webtoon "Tales of the Unusual". I haven't read it, so I'll talk only about the film there) and the storytelling. Which, I think, is the reason why "Beauty Water" got such backslash.

Let's begin with the protagonist. Given her role in the plot, it's easy to expect Yaeji to be a "fat girl with a golden heart" type. She isn't. Yaeji is an unpleasant, nasty person, who constantly demands money from her parents and unloads her frustration via writing hateful comments in the internet. Many reviewers criticised the film for it, deeming it fatphobic. I know I look like a devil's advocate here, but I think it's not the case. It would be fatphobic if Yaeji had such a horrible personality because of her fatness. But it's not the fatness that is the reason. Throughout the film it's clearly stated that it's fatphobia itself that made Yaeji who she is. She used to be bullied as a child, she is bullied now, there are even people who are openly aggressive towards her (like TV star Miri, for whom Yaeji works). After years of humiliation her incredibly rude demeanour became sort of a defensive system. I think it's quite realistic portrayal of a bullying victim. Of course, it doesn't excuse her behaviour, especially towards her loving parents, but still, I think it's easy to understand her. Also, Yaeji doesn't change after using Beauty Water. Even slim and with a beautiful face, she still uses her defensive mechanisms a lot, because she still doesn't feel safe to abandon them

Actually, I got quite surprised by this film. "Beauty Water" was advertised as a body horror and while there is a lot of body horror in it, it's mostly psychological horror. From the beginning the movie focuses on Yaeji's psyche and how the events affect her. We see how she's struggling to be loved by others, while also dealing with extreme paranoia regarding her appearance. It's easy to see that she'll do everything just to win people's liking. The scene, where she goes to the Beauty Water's distributor to ask for help after the accident shows it quite well. Yaeji begs her, promises she'll do everything just to get help. She snaps and attacks her only after the distributor hits her weak spot by calling her a pig. Another great scene is the moment Yaeji goes shopping after her first treatment with Beauty Water. She gets scared that people are staring at her and needs a while to understand they don't do that because they judge her weight, but because she's attractive.

 

This movie is more emotionally charged, than I expected... And I love it.

The film portrays well double standards people engage into while judging others. Yaeji doesn't change her habits or behaviour after getting another appearance and yet everyone are much nicer to her. A good example is the janitor Yaeji meets several times. First time, when she is still fat and bumps into him while going back from shopping, he shames her, calls her lazy and tells her to eat less. Later, after she gets slim, she meets him in similar situation. However, this time he acts nicer and even offers some help.

Also, let's note how getting shamed for her appearance doesn't make Yaeji more motivated to loose weigh. Instead she eats more to cope and, later, completely shuts herself in her room. Unfortunately, this scenes are very realistic. Fat shaming never motivates anyone. Instead, it makes people more depressed and less likely to do anything – they are just afraid of humiliation and more shaming.

It's sad that many people don't understand that and keep engaging in shaming, thinking they help.

There is a subplot about pretty women going missing, which doesn't get much attention until the ending. And, unfortunately, this is what sparked the most mixed feeling in me. The biggest twist there is that the man, who Yaeji meets in the beginning of the story and later dates, is a) the kidnapper, b) actually a woman, who was jealous of her pretty sister, so she started using Beauty Water to turn into handsome man to lure women and steal their body parts. While I can understand the idea here and have to admit that the twist is logical and works well for the story, I can't shake the feeling it's also transphobic. Like, a person changes their gender to easily get close to women and lately assault them? Really?

I'm not accusing filmmakers of being transphobes, though. As I said, the twist is kind of justified by the story, so I doubt it was put there out of sheer malice. I think it's rather a shining example of unfortunate implications and, probably, lack of knowledge too. Which is why proper education is extremely important.

Okay, enough about the plot, let's move to the technical side.

The audio is done decently. The voice acting is good, same goes to the sound editing. I can't say anything about the music, besides the fact it... Exists. It doesn't disturb, but isn't anything special either. To be honest, I can't even recall any particular melodies now. It just fills the background and nothing besides it.

I've noticed, many people shit on the visuals. "Beauty Water" blends both 2D and 3D-stylised-as-2D animation. Personally, I really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of the latter and love its smoothness and porcelain-like effect. However, when characters animated in both ways appear in one scene, it's easy to see the differences – pure 2D animation looks quite choppy. But you get used to it quickly.

I'll be honest: it's one of most visually pleasant movies I've recently watched.

Do I like "Beauty Water"? Of course. It's a solid psychological horror with some nice gore in it. It's also decently paced and doesn't drag at all. Do I recommend it? I'm not sure, especially when it comes to the ending. The plot is great, but the transphobic twist at the end ruins the experience. Quite a pity, isn't it?

Image sources:

Poster: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%8C%8C%EC%9D%BC:%EA%B8%B0%EA%B8%B0%EA%B4%B4%EA%B4%B4%EC%84%B1%ED%98%95%EC%88%98_%EA%B7%B9%EC%9E%A5_%ED%8F%AC%EC%8A%A4%ED%84%B0.jpg

All movie stills were screenshot by me from the official trailer and belong to Triple Pictures.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgdXZrjVPNk

Two guys, one lighthouse

I don't remember where exactly I heard about "The Lighthouse". Given the amount of various horror and movie news I follow, it could be anywhere. However, I know what exactly encouraged me to check this film out. It was... A "Boku no Hero Academia" AU – Shipwreck AU by Zhampy (which I really recommend, it's great!). I loved it so much I just had to see the movie that inspired it. Fortunately, one of libraries in my city has "The Lighthouse" in its collection. I was so excited, I watched this film the same day I got it and... Well... I'll be honest: to say it was wild is to say fucking nothing.

I know jokes about Pattinson's most famous role had been done to death, but: Edward looks strange with moustache.

"The Lighthouse" tells a story of two lighthouse keepers, old and experienced Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) and rookie Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson). After arriving at the island in the middle of nowhere, they are supposed to spend four weeks there and take care of the lighthouse (what a surprise!). However, from the beginning nothing goes as it should: Wake treats Winslow like shit, makes him do all the hard work and doesn't allow him to see the Fresnel lens. Fortunately, as time passes, the guys start to get on a little better.

And then things happen. Many things. And due to the fact "The Lighthouse" is more "how it happened" than "what happened", this post will be spoilerific as hell, so

SPOILER ALERT!!!

We are presented with two main characters in the beginning, but with story's progress the movie centres more on Winslow and his fall into insanity. He starts as a pretty sensible (if quiet) man and then becomes more and more unhinged. The movie doesn't explain if he used to be sane or was mad from the beginning and just suppressed it. It also doesn't give a clear reason of his madness – it can be either Wake's abuse or something supernatural. According to some theories, the whole plot can also be a Winslow's dying dream. However, this all isn't actually important. Only thing that matters is the process and, actually, it works surprisingly well. Pattinson's portrayal of a man, who is gradually losing his mind is very convincing and shows his brilliant acting skills. He slowly builds up the tension to the point, when the ending and him finally losing his shit feels almost cathartic.

And it's amazing.

While I can't say a bad word about Dafoe's acting (it was brilliant), Wake isn't even half interesting as Winslow. To be honest, for most of the time this drunken asshole was just pissing me off. Of course, he has some great moments as a character, like the scene with a curse or his "relationship" with the lighthouse, but still... Sometimes I felt the creators just overdid it. For example, I know this farting thing was (probably) meant to be a joke to relieve the tension, but I got tired of it halfway into the movie. Maybe it's because I hate toilet humour (I'll be honest: most of shitty jokes aren't funny when you suffer from chronic intestinal illness), I don't know. Or maybe it really is just too much.

To be honest, even without farting Thomas Wake would be a hard to bear character. He is obnoxious, bossy, arrogant and drinks way too much alcohol. Actually, if I were to point in the film one thing that really disturbed me, it would be drinking. Okay, I have to admit scenes with Wake and Winslow singing and dancing are pretty funny and I even chuckled at "All right, have it your way. I like your cooking", but the rest... Damn, that really is scary. The most important factor of that scariness is the realistic portrayal of alcoholism. Wake drinks all the time, to the point that near the ending lack of alcohol is one of his biggest worries. Also, the scene when he urges Winslow to drink with him is so relatable it made me extremely uncomfortable (due to various reasons I'm an abstinent and I can't count how many times I got shamed or laughed at because of it).

While we are at it, personally I think shit hits the fan not because Winslow kills the seagull, but because he starts abusing alcohol. Being drunk basically makes him lose all the control he had earlier and unleash all suppressed emotions. Of course, he has already started losing his mind, but the intoxication makes it quicker and more violent. It's also worth noticing both he and Wake are completely smashed in the ending, which only fuels their obsessions and paranoias. It's truly horrifying.

So drink responsibly, sweethearts!

Of course, I'm not saying that the rest of the film isn't scary at all... However, I'd rather call it creepy. While it has some more typical scares, like the scene with severed head in the basket, it mostly relies on unsettling atmosphere and damn, it's done awesomely. The audiovisual side is perfect. Sparse music (most sounds are the in-universe ones) and deep shadows create amazing uneasy feelings. Also, recording the movie on an old tape in black and white was great idea. Because of that, most scenes are incredibly dark with very few bright points. The fact we can't see everything only adds to the general creepiness.

Actually, I really enjoyed the supernatural aspect of the story, or rather the ambiguity of it. To the end we have no idea who Wake actually is (is he even human?!), what's going on with the siren (I think Winslow is hallucinating her, but it's only my interpretation) and what actually was on the top of the lighthouse. The general mindfuck is aided by the montage, which tends to be very trippy. However, my favourite thing is the addiction of sexual themes. It isn't very explicit, but blends with the rest pretty well, fleshing out the general squickiness. To be honest, I wish more horror creators added erotica to their works, fear and sex go together awesomely (which is why Luca Guadagnino's "Suspiria" is my absolutely favourite movie ever. The mix of horror and sensuality here is done perfectly).

But let's omit the standard "How to have sex with a mermaid?" discussion, it isn't that important, at least not now.

Time for a little digression, because there is one thing this movie made me think of. When Wake insults Winslow, he often calls him a dog. Later, when the tables turn, Winslow makes Wake behave like one. During this scene I was asking myself "Why is comparing anyone to a dog something offensive?". Damn, even now calling someone a "dog" is insulting. Quick research showed me people often consider dogs as inferior to them, so comparing someone to one suggests we view this person as worse. To be honest, I think it's a relic of the past that should be dropped as soon as possible. Dogs are loyal, friendly and love their humans unconditionally. They are absurdly cute too. Also, media depict them as human's best friends. Taking this all into consideration, the fact that in 21st century "dog" still is an insult is a prime example of hypocrisy. Times change and language should too.

Coming back to the topic: actually, I really enjoyed watching "The Lighthouse". I expected an artistic, slow burn horror and got it. Of course, it took me a while to get used to the visuals (I usually don't watch black and white movies), but they didn't bother me as much as I thought they would. However, I'm not sure if I can recommend this movie. It's brutal, crazy, full of mindfuck and sometimes obscene. And awesome.

So awesome.

PS I made a Twitter account earlier this month. I'm pretty active there (or at least more active than on this blog), so if you want to be up to date with my shit, see WIPs or read some of my contextless thoughts, follow @kikihakanate. Thank you in advance, sweethearts!

Image sources:
All movie stills were screenshot by me from the official trailer and belong to A24.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyag7lR8CPA

The poster: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7984734/mediaviewer/rm2887891457

Seagull poster: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7984734/mediaviewer/rm3720710145

The craziest prison break in the world or I have watched "Dead Leaves"...

...and liked it. But let's start from the beginning.

There are different types of movies. There are normal movies – actually, most of them. There are movies that are more or less weird, for example "Ich seh, ich seh". There are also movies that are pure mindfuck.

And there is "Dead Leaves".

If you can't stand the chaos on this poster, don't worry – the movie itself is way worse.

"Dead Leaves'" plot... Well... Exists. Whole story starts when two strangers, Pandy (amazingly voiced by Takako Honda, but I will talk about it later) and Retro (Kappei Yamaguchi) wake up in the middle of the desert completely naked and with erased memories. They quickly decide they need to get clothes and food. How? By ruining half of the nearby city, of course. (Un)fortunately, shortly after they start, the police arrives and, after a very intense battle (loads of bullets and deadly robots included), Pandy and Retro get arrested and sent to Dead Leaves – maximum security prison on Moon.

And this everything happens before opening credits.

As you have probably noticed, "Dead Leaves" definitely isn't an ordinary action SF anime. Primo: it has very interesting, non-anime visual style, which brings to mind western works, especially comics. Actually, the connotation with this particular medium is very blatant – some scenes are stylised as comic pages by dividing screen into several panels...

And damn, it looks great in motion!

...or adding written sound effects.

Sometimes in Roman alphabet, sometimes in katakana, because who the hell needs consistency?

Comic-like stylization isn't only interesting thing about the art style. The colours are intense and vibrant. Everything is so detailed the screen sometimes gets cluttered. But what stands out the most is character's design. While all human characters look the same, the Dead Leaves' prisoners are amazingly diverse. Their bodies are more or less deformed with exaggerated proportions and unusual skin colours, you actually can't find two similar inmates. Of course, Pandy and Retro look more like ordinary people (except for the fact Retro has a TV for head), but they still maintain their originality.

Secundo: this anime was made to look cool and sweet Arceus, it shows. From the very beginning the viewer practically gets swept with action. There are big guns, there are bigger guns, there are loads and loads of ammo for these guns, there are pursuits, robots, gigantic blades and even a tank (personally, my favourite scene). Actually, most of this movie is made of very dynamic fights. And explosions. Everything explodes: cars, motors, robots, tanks, buildings, just every-fucking-thing. Lipsticks too. Especially lipsticks.

Actually, I adore Pandy's lipstick bombs. Is there anything cooler than blowing stuff up with a beauty product?

And tertio: everything in "Dead Leaves" is so batshit insane it's hard to take this anime seriously. While the plot makes sense (probably), the execution makes it feel like an excuse to try pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in a movie. Fights are filled with grotesque violence and ridiculous splashes of blood. Humour consists of shitty jokes (in a literal way), sex jokes (however, the infamous character with a drill for penis is in fact a clever nod to a classic of Japanese cyberpunk) and black humour (deaths are sometimes so over the top they become funny). Generally, the film itself is so goddamn intense, filled with loud noises and flashy images, it's sometimes hard to catch what's going on.

On top of that, almost nothing of the general weirdness of the anime's world is explained. Why Retro has a TV for a head? What exactly happened to him and Pandy (I mean, it is somehow explained, but during the explanation Pandy starts talking over it and, in the end, we don't hear the whole story)? What was this fucking caterpillar meant to be (except of tying a story with a sinister fairy tale... Or something)?! CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE JUST WATCHED?!

Of course, such crazy movie wouldn't do without equally crazy characters. As I mentioned, character design here is just brilliant in general, but Pandy and Retro stand out and I don't talk only about their appearances.

Let's start with Retro. From the very beginning it's clear he's an absolute lunatic. He's a violent (he even says himself he likes it) psycho, who enjoys spreading chaos and killing everyone around. He's also a sex-obsessed jerk. During his first dialogue with Pandy he spends whole scene staring into her and drooling. Later, he talks Pandy into intercourse with him (while she isn't very enthusiastic about it) only because he's bored. On the other hand, he's a pretty good fighter and a charismatic leader (however, given the fact the prisoners are as mad as him, it's nothing surprising they wanted him to lead the prison break). It's also showed, that he actually cares for Pandy – his concern when she felt unwell is genuine.

Pandy, while similarly brutal, is much more rational. She also is an awesome example of a strong action heroine, independent and very skilled in fighting. Damn, her taking down a gigantic battle robot bare handed (while driving at the same time) is one of the most badass things in the cinematography. Also, she manages to fight with 666 while being... Well, I don't wan to spoil anything, so I'll just say that her state wasn't very battle-appropriate at that time.

Also, I find her rather cute.

Technical side of "Dead Leaves" is just brilliant. Once the viewer gets used to peculiarity of the art style, watching the movie is quite pleasant. The animation is polished up and very, very, VERY detailed. Fighting scenes are dynamic, flashy and simply epic. The "effect of epicness" is additionally ramped up by music. Soundtrack consists of electronic beats and catchy guitar melodies, which combine with the action very well.

The voice acting is marvellous. I have to admit, I'm a purist who watches movies almost only with original audio. Of course, I heard many positive opinions about English dub and even thought about choosing this version, but I ended with the Japanese one and it was great. It's easy to hear that actors understand the crazy atmosphere of the story very well and their over the top performance completes it. Of course, Retro's shrieking is horribly annoying, but not because Kappei Yamaguchi couldn't do it well, but because it was MEANT to be annoying. Also, I absolutely adore how Takako Honda played Pandy. Her voice is so sexy and full of confidence, they couldn't find better actress for this character.

As I said in the beginning, I enjoyed "Dead Leaves". Nevertheless, I'm not sure if I can recommend it to anyone. While the movie itself is an audiovisual gem, the general mindfuck and obscenity may be unappealing for most of audience. However, if you can stomach crude humour and not overthink the plot, then give it a try. "Dead Leaves" isn't good when it comes to watching it "normally", but if you just want to experience something mad and unusual, then it's awesome.

So awesome.

Image sources:
"Dead Leaves" poster: https://www.jposter.net/posters/view.asp?partid=34597
Movie frames were screenshotted by me from the version uploaded on YouTube.