Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 8/31 | Countries 3/5 | Japan
Kurozu-cho, town of my birth. Let me tell you the story of a strangeness that happened there.
Kirie Goshima is a high school student. Her longest friend is Shuichi Saito. She comes across Shuichi’s father, enraptured with something on the wall. She tries to say hello. But he is filming, fixated on a snail. Later, she meets up with Shuichi, who gives her a ride. They pass a barber shop whose pole is missing.
Shuichi’s father comes over to Goshima’s place, where he films Kirie’s father making pottery on a wheel. He proclaims it the true Uzumaki (spiral) of art. He asks Kirie’s father to make him a plate with a spiral on it that will make his head spin.
At school, a student jumps to his death on the spiral staircase, his head splitting open. His face has an uncanny smile. Thus begins the strange occurrences, all revolving around the spiral shape. Shuichi knows and wants to escape it, but can he convince Kirie to escape with him?
I read the manga earlier this year. While I didn’t love it, it had some memorable images. I was curious to see how the movie would translate the episodic nature of the manga into a full-length movie.
The film carefully reconstructs the frames of Junji Ito’s manga, bringing it to life in a studied but lively way. The actors have trouble making the dialogue work. Or the director wanted them to sound stilted and off. Also, the film has a hard time doing much beyond recreating the unusual atmosphere.
The film has a low-budget feel, or rather, a television-budget feel. It makes sense with Akihiro Higuchi’s TV background.
It’s hard to talk about. There isn’t much to it. The manga is similarly empty but has a lot more internal monologue. The movie cuts out almost all the monologue and most of the book. It tries to improve on the total lack of an ending in the manga. Instead, it just cuts earlier in the story, leaving it feeling even more unresolved.
Outstanding images. No story. Put it on in the background of a party.