Nain sôruzu

I didn't find this movie very appealing or interesting. It's kind of bizarre and crazy in a David Lynch meets Tarrantino type of way, but there is no tension, it just meanders along. Also none of the characters, nine prison escapees, is really relatable or makes you want stick around. In one word, it's boring.

'9 Souls' is a title that fits the movie's psychological slant very well. The plot revolves around a group of prison fugitives so the narrative touches upon the flight itself but there is more of device to explore the inner realities of the characters and how these relate to the world at large. This explains the moments of surreal oddity that interrupt the linear flow of events at pivotal points.

This aspect of introspective lyricism is steeped in several social contexts, some of which are typically Japanese like the yakuza orphan or the hikikomori. So that the movie never loses a sense of structure even as it progresses further into character study territory. And tragedy is at the heart of each of these criminals. True to its calling this movie is gritty, violent and has no qualms in disturbing the viewer. There is more to freedom than simply escaping from behind bars and reconnecting with life on the outside is fraught with difficulties that some simply cannot handle. A sense of dark fatalism seems to motivate these prisoners and their fanciful fantasies are but a result of this.

Its one great flaw is that the cast is somewhat bloated. Nine complex characters are bundled together and it is not easy to give them all the required screen time to flesh out properly so a few fall by the wayside. The same goes with the relationships between these but here the pair of a father who killed his son and of the young man who killed his father emerge naturally as counterparts of sorts. They form an uneasy bond that results in a somewhat perplexing ending.

'9 Souls' does not settle for illusions of regeneration but it does not deny a desire for betterment. Torn between this two extremes and enlivened by a great cast it is a movie that is off beat and intense. Well worth watching.

I watched "9 souls" in Athens' 12th International Film Festival (September 2006), where Toshiaki Toyoda, the films's director was also present and answered many questions of the audience. This road film is about 9 fugitives, all very different characters from each other. They decide to stay together travelling with their red van across Japan. Every time the van stops, we see these 9 fugitives trying to escape from their past in order to build up a new life or to fulfil a dream. However, no matter how hard they try, it seems impossible and their violent past comes after them and leads them to their final destruction.

Though a very pessimistic film, it is not a dark film. On the contrary, it is full of beautiful pictures, surreal elements and elegant humor. Toyoda's heroes cannot escape their "prison" and they face a divine(?) punishment for their "crimes". They are small pieces of a beautiful painting, where the tower of Tokyo depicted as a huge knife turned upside down prevails!

Highly recommended to all those who appreciate watching movies. Great acting, perfectly surreal awkward humor, requisite prison sh-t, accurate depiction of the male condition. Music is also spot-on. I think the artist is "Dip" but not sure. The short loop of the title credit song on the DVD menu is well-timed, and sounds like Slint. (one thing to know is that IMDb maintains a ridiculous policy of a MINIMUM comment length based on, not CHARACTERS, not WORDS, but rather LINES. Measuring post quality and quantity based on LINES in the bold era of UNICODE and flexible, web-based typography, is like smoking poles.) ! Your comment does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for comments is 10 lines of text. Please see the guidelines. Attempts to pad the comment with junk words can result in your account being blocked from future submissions.

This is well made with some fine cinematography and considering it is a two hour film really does keep moving along. Unfortunately we are not really going anywhere and although presumably this is supposedly part comedy part tragedy, the comic moments probably appeal more to a local audience and as for the tragic side, because this comes in the second half it will only work if your sympathies are with the characters. Mine weren't, the whole notion of nine escapees sticking together seemed daft and there was too much laughing at fat or shy people and generally too much pissing about - literally! So well put together, however, that even if the story is not fully engaging there is enough charm here to at least persist till the end.