Starring: Yuka, Karina, Keppei Shiina, Shun Oguri
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Language: Japanese
Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 95 minutes
I was a little hesitant to do a full on review of this movie, but I feel it deserves more detail than just an opinion filled paragraph. I downloaded this movie months ago and ended up watching the end online since it cut off.
The story starts off with Nagisa Sugiura and her friends at a diner or something. They have a discussion on reincarnation and we get the first glimpse of a potential ghost in the reflection of her friend's cell phone. Later, we learn that Nagisa has an agent and is working on getting a role in a movie based on a series of murders in a hotel. She starts seeing bits and pieces of the crime, during her work through the eyes of a little girl she portrays in the movie. Gradually, we see the murders in more and more detail.
The reason I wanted to watch this was the interesting storyline. Even though the director used a cliche element of angry ghost, I still wanted to check it out since it had to deal with reincarnation, whether you believe in that sort of thing or not. I enjoyed the way the director went back and forth between Nagisa's visions of ghost from the actual events that happened in the hotel they're shooting in and the scene being filmed by the director in the movie. There were a lot of great visual moments like the doll being a key element of the plot and also the lack of sound toward the climax of the movie.
I thought the acting was pretty decent, especially Yuka as Nagisa, since it was her first time being in a movie. She reacted to every situation thrown at her with skill and she should continue building on her resume. In the middle of it all, I became a little disconnected with the movie and a tad bored with some of the dialogue, but in a way I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. There was a lot of good moments where anticipation built up inside me, but somewhere toward the end I became a little confused and I had to read some viewer comments to piece together everything.
In the end, if you're the type to watch angry ghost movies like The Grudge and The Ring, you should probably check this one out. It isn't mind blowingly fatastic, but it isn't a complete boring disaster either. The movie is worth watching and the ending to it guarantees some satisfaction.
