Isola - La tredicesima personalità

It is the final lost episode of NIGHT GALLERY and Rod Serling made it in Japan -- OK, not really.

Made in Japan, ISOLA has two attractive actresses and some (unnecessary) teen nudity, but sadly nothing can bring this movie exploring death to life.

Dark... in more ways than one. Most of ISOLA is shot at night using the hand-held shaky camera technic. In other words, it is difficult to see what is happening! Even the daytime shots are grey and murky.

ISOLA is slow and boring (just as I found THE 6TH SENSE and DONNIE DARKO to be). The subtitles are just OK... "There is know way to find her..." etc.

Interestingly, ISOLA has a scene where an elderly Japanese man shares shame for surrendering and not being killed with his men during WWII. The exact same thing occurs in 1998's WANDAFURU RAIFU (AFTERLIFE) also made in Japan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165078/ . It seems modern Japanese movie makers still feel angst about being defeated nearly 60 years ago.

I have seen the cover for this 2000 Japanese mystery movie a couple of times since 2000, but I actually never gotten around to watching the movie before now, late in 2022. And honestly, I don't know why, especially since I've always found the cover for this movie to be interesting.

Writers Hiroshi Hatajima, Mugita Kinoshita, Atsushi Kuwahara and Toshiyuki Mizutani managed to deliver something odd here. Sure, "Isola: Tajuu Jinkaku Shôjo" (aka "Isola: Multiple Personality Girl"), was a watchable movie. But the storyline here is one where you really have to pay attention and be very focused. I have to admit that I really didn't fully understand the storyline told here, so the movie was only mildly entertaining for me. But still, I managed to sit through all 94 minutes of the movie.

The acting performances in the movie were good. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble here, but they had some talented actors and actresses on the cast list, that's for sure.

Visually then this movie is not one that makes use of a whole lot of special effects. And honestly, the movie didn't really need to, because it did quite well with the simple approach.

As I now have seen "Isola: Tajuu Jinkaku Shôjo", I must admit that I am sitting here with a sensation of not having missed out on a grand cinematic moment in Japanese cinema history. Yeah, it was watchable, but the storyline just didn't latch unto me.

My rating of director Toshiyuki Mizutani's 2000 mystery lands on a four out of ten stars. This is not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time though.

The premise of this movie was good. A girl suffering from multiple personality disorder with a hidden personality threatening to destroy it all, along the way came a psychic who wanted to help, but the psychic herself needed help.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the movie, it changed direction and drifted into spirits. So, the audience was left with an empty shell of an enticing plotline. It became your standard ghost story.

The movie also failed to delve enough into the girl or the psychic. The audience was left wondering - who exactly was the psychic? What was her background? How came she did not remember her name? Each scene just raised new questions, instead of answering previous questions.

As a whole, the movie just did not work for me.

This was shown on International Channel as "Isola: Persona 13." I found this interesting, with its references to the stories of "Ugetsu Monogatari" and characters whose lives have been upended-- physically and spiritually-- by the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The girl Chihiro's world was shattered long before this, by the car accident which killed her parents and her subsequent abuse at the hands of the uncle who adopted her. The film captures the quiet agony of characters who are "different" in a society that values cohesion and uniformity. The events and revelations play out rather quietly until the end, and the film rewards the viewer's patience and attention.

I believe this was a very well made movie. It had famous Japanese actors. Very well written and acted out I wanted to correct a few things on the first review.

There was NOT any teen nudity. Those were adult actors and the nudity wasn't enough of anything to even be upset about. Especially to Japanese viewers. That's not considered anything bad.

I don't see where you thought everything looked dark either. Because when I watched it, it was very crisp and clear.

I think this movie was a very good explanation of spiritual possession. Many of the statements were very realistic. People that are interested in supernatural and out of body experiences would be interested in this type of movie.

Very good movie.