Kao

I have just seen this in 2014. First run through I wasn't sure, but when I replayed some of the scenes, I began to see such a richness of detail and varied moods and camera angles that I was really drawn in. For example, just before she leaves for the ferry, as her pursuers are closing in--there is a scene of the harbor shore line at dawn, small waves slowly washing in, very calm. Another detail--of foreshadowing--is the bar owner's sister breaking a glass ashtray, just before we see him being killed. The fox dance scenes were spellbinding, another instance of varied mood and intensity. The film did npt lack in humor, as the scene in which the protagonist bangs her tambourine way out of time. Agree with the other reviewer that the heroine' acting was quite amazing.

'Face' is a fascinating and difficult to categorize movie. Naomi Fujiyama gives an impressive performance (her movie debut) as the frumpy, clumsy and socially retarded Masako who one day strangles the pretty sister who loves to torment her. Masako flees from her home and then goes on a journey, both physically and emotionally, which ranges from everything from rape, earthquakes, learning to ride a bicycle, and working in a karaoke bar. All kinds of things both big and small, serious and trivial. What makes the movie consistently fascinating is the fresh approach of the unpredictable script and direction by Junji Sakamoto, a film maker I am not familiar with. 'Face' isn't really either a true life crime portrait of a murderer or a saccharine women-overcomes-the-odds-and-finally-learns-how-to-live movie that Hollywood churns out. It's somewhere in between. And how much if any sympathy or empathy you feel for Masako will depend on the individual viewer. It isn't an obvious movie, and that's what I enjoyed about it. It may not be everybody's cup of tea but I liked it a lot.

A woman has two daughters who couldn't be more different - Yukari is slim, attractive and popular whilst Masako is frumpy, clumsy and reclusive. When their mother dies the two sisters fight, and Masako kills her sibling. She goes 'on the run'... which is quite a challenge for somebody who has barely left home her whole life, and has rarely had to deal with other people.

Junji Sukamoto's film is an offbeat exploration of a type of person who doesn't often get attention, cinematic or otherwise. Something like a road movie which leads to fascinating and unpredictable places, it is a quite unique and powerful piece of work. It's sometimes very funny, sometimes very sweet, sometimes rather rough and sometimes quite disturbing. Fantastic acting by the lead actress Naomi Fujiyama carries it wherever director Junji Sakamoto decides it should go.

There are some editing issues, and the translation is probably poorly done, but I found this movie compelling. Amazing work by Ms. Fujiama. I found the situations believable in the context of who the character was. there were surprises that made the story interesting. Plenty of opportunities to examine the Japanese fascination with karaoke.

The movie is worth watching just for the truly astonishingly haunting sequence of the festival with children dancing and a chorus singing with drumming accompaniment . I have never seen or heard anything like this, I have no idea what it all means or if it is a real part of a festival on an island. Well worth seeing even if you skip to the "festival " scene.

Well, as the (only!) other reviewer sort of implied, the story here is very straightforward. But it's the characterisation that is the problem. The "heroine" (using that word in the loosest possible context) is a problem.

Is she meant to be a "funny nerd", a la Jim Carey or perhaps Rick Moranis, at whom we laugh hilariously when she falls over her own feet? If so, then the movie fails, because she's not funny in that way - it would be like laughing at a paraplegic who fell out of a wheelchair.

Is she meant to be "seriously" clumsy, and so worthy of our sympathy? If so, then the movie fails also, because the clumsiness is so contrived, so exaggerated, the things that happen to her are so improbable, that the plot simply loses all credibility. It's like a "bad" war movie where the bad guys fire machine guns at John Wayne and every bullet misses, but he closes his eyes and with 6 shots of his revolver kills 20 baddies. And the scene where she "meets" her dead sister in the bathroom - well, that was totally incomprehensible.

Maybe this a "race" issue, with me not being Japanese therefore not being able to understand a Japanese "character" movie. I dunno. But by the end of the movie, I found myself regretting that I had allowed two hours of my life to slip away in front of the tube.