SPOILER DISCUSSION
- Writing a spoiler-free review for this movie was actually far easier than I thought it would be because of how brilliant Ueda’s script/screenplay actually is. The fake narrative (the initial 36 minute short being filmed) has parallels to the actual narrative of the crew trying to get ready to make the movie in almost every way. Here’s a list of a few of them:
- Zombies disrupt the set of the movie and force the actors to break through and show their real emotion represents the exact way the actors are forced to change up their behavior to deal with the random events happening on set. Hosoda represents this in the truest sense as his inability to stay off the booze and follow the script makes him like a literal zombie who has to be dragged around the set like a corpse and propped into position.
- The story director summons zombies to make a real artistic piece that shows emotion and depth. Meanwhile Higurashi genuinely has pride in his work even if he sells himself short as a cheap and efficient director. His attempts at making the piece seriously translates to his fictional persona.
- Higurashi yelling at Ko and Chinatsu is both part of the script and his real feelings towards the way they actively tried to derail the movie with their lists of demands and pretentious attitudes. When I first saw the movie I was surprised at how real the anger felt until the second and third act reveal the anger comes from a genuine place of frustration.
In any sense, the meta-narrative and narrative fit so well that it demonstrates how tight the structure of the story actually is. The fact that there are so few spoiler free reviews of this movie, I think is a shame because it does a disservice to the immense work that went into building up and demonstrating every twist.
2. The initial discussion between Higurashi and the two producers is perfect in comedic execution and in revealing just how absurd the tasks directors are given really are. The way they casually ask for a continuous one shot horror movie as though it’s something easy that requires no effort demonstrates the way that producers (and moviegoers in general) underestimate the work put in to deliver even the smallest scene. Doing a normal continuous shot is something that gets lauded already because of the difficulty involved. However, asking a director to do one in real time with no breaks is ABSURD. It requires absolute perfection which, as the movie demonstrates , is impossible to guarantee on a set where anything and everything can and will go wrong. The shot of the request to the reverse-shot of Higurashi laughing to the realization he’s genuinely being asked to do the impossible is perfect in encapsulating the absurd dilemma he’s presented with.
3. The arguments between Ko and Kasahara get me every single time. The idea of zombies not having agency enough to wield an axe makes sense, but at the same time it sounds so ludicrous when brought up as an actual concern that it makes you hate Ko. Likewise, the discussion of the subtext about the zombies representing racism/social justice is a great callback to the Night of the Living Dead, but the subsequent questioning by Kasahara as to where this sub textual analysis comes from and the lack of answer is hilarious. Sometimes zombies are just zombies and adding faux pretentious analysis to them makes you look absurd.
4. I love the second section of the movie where all the pre-production elements are shown. Watching the cinematographers go through the blocking and the way the camera needs to shift from angle to angle makes the fake movie in the first act that much more impressive feeling, especially because it highlights just how technical a continuous shot has to be. Likewise watching the crew rush to get the in-camera effects ready gives you an appreciation of just how hard things like getting a decapitation or a blood spurt really are. No element of the production process should ever be taken for granted and the movie makes that abundantly clear in demonstrating just how hard the final shot really is. It wouldn’t have been possible without literally every member of the cast coming together, putting aside their pride, and making a human pyramid to replace the knocked over crane.
5. The cinematography switchoff between Shin’ichirô Ôsawa’s character and Sakina Asamori’s character is something I thought was weird but entertaining when watching the fake narrative. However, getting to know the latter character and her obsession with zooms makes the realization of what happened all the better. The best part is how the movie even reflects this newfound love of zooming in by immediately zooming in on Mao’s face as she compliments the use of zooms. It’s a neat visual tie in of the fake and real narrative and a reminder to the audience that even this real narrative is just a constructed movie we’re watching (how many levels of meta is this? ).
6. The way the movie constantly shows the artifice of media presentations and contrasts them to the way those pieces are packaged and sold as something real is clever and makes both the actual narrative and the fake narrative more interesting to compare and piece against one another in terms of what is trying to be achieved. My favorite moment of this is when the movie shows Hosoda using eye drops to fake some tears and then later on reveals that this fake emotional reveal is being used as bait in some heartbreaking advert. It’s funny and well earned.
7. Speaking of artifice and humor, the injection of the father-daughter relation between Higurashi and Mao is what gives the movie a genuine emotional resonance that makes its conclusion so heartwarming. After Higurashi is done comforting Hosoda over the deterioration of the latter’s relationship with his daughter, the movie immediately cuts to Higurashi sobbing in much the same way lamenting his own relationship with Mao. Artifice in movie production translates to artifice in the way we present ourselves and hide our own issues.
It’s funny because of the nature of the scenes and the immediate cut- revealing that Higurashi is going through the same issue- but it’s touching because it gives meaning to the strange interactions between the two earlier in the movie. It also makes Mao’s subsequent re-evaluation of her father’s artistic drive and her efforts to help him achieve his vision all the sweeter. Seriously, watching mild mannered Higurashi blow his casket at the producer who’s willing to shelve the final shot after the arduous work he put in made me feel angered, let alone Mao, but she refuses to let his artistic vision get sidelined. It may be schlock but that doesn’t mean it has to be poor quality. Plus that final shot, which shows his dream coming to life once again. That’s cinematic poetry that ties all the the ends of the movie together.
