Tomie: Re-birth

Tomie: Rebirth is the weakest entry in the horror movie franchise about the evil girl that cannot die. Let's start with the few positive points. The film certainly has an uneasy atmosphere from start to finish. Sakai Miki might be the best actress to portray Tomie yet as she finds the right balance between human emotions and monstrous manipulations. The film shows a Tomie that is more powerful than ever before. She can come back to life through a picture, take possession of other people when they use her lipstick and even kill people with the help of her hair.

Despite a good lead actress, an intriguing atmosphere and a few clever ideas, the movie is boring and hard to sit through. Horror movies should be scary in one way or another but there isn't one single frightening moment in the entire film. The cast claimed that the film had humorous elements and were close to a dark comedy but that most certainly isn't the case as the atmosphere remains gloomy throughout the film and people die under terrible circumstances. Most of the acting performances are terrible since actors and actresses constantly move and speak in slow motion that would even make Inspector Mathias and Detective Chief Inspector Derrick look like dynamic characters. The story is also somewhat confusing as it shifts perspectives all the time and includes unnecessary flashbacks. The pace of the film is dragging and it certainly doesn't help that this is the longest movie in the franchise up to that point.

Tomie: Rebirth is a disappointment because it never lifts up, overstays its welcome and wastes all of its initial potential. Shimizu Takashi directed movies like Ju-On before this film and would later on create the marvelous Marebito but his involvement in this film is underwhelming. Only avid collectors and fans of the franchise can give this film a try. Anyone else should stick to Tomie or Tomie: Replay or just read the manga.

The above reviewer obviously doesn't know the history of Tomie, and why any man who loves her winds up killing her. As in the other Tomie installments, Tomie is forever doomed to being murdered, only to return from the grave. This time, she's done in four times. This is the best of the Tomies by far, and the only one that the girl who plays Tomie is more beautiful than the heroine. Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on) did a fantastic job directing this movie, and blending a unique balance of comedy, horror and surrealism into this chapter. Tomie's character is the most 'human' in this one, as opposed to the other movies that attempt to make her out to be more of the true monster she is. As for gore, this one most definitely has more gore than the other Tomie's, but by comparison isn't a lot since the story of Tomie really doesn't rely much on gore to begin with. 7/10

The fourth film attempt at the "Tomie" saga borrows a bit from the "Painter" chapter, as well as the "Hair" chapters. Unfortunately, as Tomie movies go, this one is no better than the three before it. While the direction was interesting, the cinematography above average, and the chills effective, the film ultimately suffers from a cast of really.. well, bland characters. Don't get me wrong -- the movie had arguably THE BEST Tomie out of them all in Miki Sakai, and the supporting actors did the best they could with the limited material the studio provided, but -- the lack of actual captivating characters and working plot really halts the whole movie from realizing its potential. Hideo was the second most intriguing person after Tomie, and he was gone within the first 10 minutes. I think the final product would've been much more entertaining had the script followed more into the Hideo and Tomie's "relationship", as opposed to his boring and dull friends. A straight adaptation of the manga chapter, in other words.

And then there's the "trademark" slow pacing that seems to plague every single Tomie film in existence. I don't know about you, but I really dislike how the characters seem to slow down to an almost zombie-like state once they become involved in the main plot -- it happened to Tsukiko in the original, it happened to Yumi and Fumihito in "Replay", and now it's happened to Hitomi and Takumi in "Rebirth". And with the lack of an actual coherent plot, this slug race becomes much less tolerable, and borderline irritating. Only Tomie herself should be allowed to move in half-dead fashion because that's essentially what she is, but for everyone else? Oh, God.

Nevertheless, it's not all lost; the movie redeems itself by casting Miki Sakai as the beautiful bakemono we've all come to love. Right away, she had the traditional look that had been missing since the original film (it seriously sucks that they didn't get Miki back for "Forbidden Fruit", by the way), and her portrayal of the character was much more lively and spunky than seen before. My only gripe here is that Miki's Tomie is slightly older than the ones from the previous movies and the source manga (she was 16-17 year old there; she seems about 20-ish here), but then again, it's almost a non-issue when you consider the rest of the characters also look to be in their early 20's as well. Had to bump Tomie up a few years to fit her in, I suppose. The gore and psychological scares have also been amped up slightly, although "Replay" still reigns as the better "Tomie" film in that department.

All in all, if you're a fan of the "Tomie" movies so far and had little to no problem accepting them as what they are, then you will enjoy "Reborth". If your introduction to the character is from Junji Ito's manga, and you hated all the movies so far... well, things aren't much better here than before. If anything, watch the movie for Miki's performance -- you'll see why she's arguably the best Tomie thus far.

Having watched the first three films (Tomie, Tomie: Replay, and this, Tomie: Re-birth), I can say this is far and away the most accessible and interesting of the group.

For sure, this movie is, like the others, almost glacially paced, but those with the attention spans for it will be rewarded.

It's hard to describe the plot, but it essentially revolves around the effect that the title character - Tomie, the girl who can't die - has on the people around her. Tomie "enchants" men in so much as they become powerless, madly in love with her, to the point where they kill her, and she is reborn.

But the character is so much more complex than that, and this iteration of the series makes her the most accessible and expands her well beyond what the previous films had.

For sure, this is horror, but it's more psychological than anything. There are gruesome scenes, but the whole film is effective because the characters are rich and deep and interesting. While the first two films focused almost entirely on the effects Tomie had on the men she encountered, this one expands beyond that, touching on family and friends, and even deigns to show us what happens when a man resists her charms.

It isn't enough that it's a solid horror film, but the quality of writing on display is outstanding and puts it on par with other classics like Ring and Kairo. This is a matured Tomie film - not dull like the first or overtly Americanized like the second - but raw and intelligent.

Absolute must see.

If there's one thing that can and should be said for the popular cult- franchise "Tomie", it's this: despite an extremely shaky and underwhelming start, the series does make a noted improvement each time with its first round of sequels. It's a franchise that can be well-worth investing in as a result, despite also being one that has the most extremes of up's and down's throughout it's numerous entries.

Yes, despite being a massive fan of the horror genre and particularly of Japanese creep-shows, I've never been particularly taken with the original "Tomie" movie. Based on a popular ongoing manga of the same name by author Junji Ito, the first entry in the film franchise was a messy swarm of under-developed ideas, sloppy attempts at atmosphere building, trite and hackneyed writing and direction and poorly established rules. It was a fundamental failure both as an example of horror and as a film in general. Thankfully, it's first sequel in "Tomie: Replay" was a marked improvement in virtually every capacity, with fun direction, decent writing and generally strong performances.

And I do think that this third entry, "Tomie: Re-Birth", is another step in the right direction for the franchise. With a nice, slow sense of pacing and a great sense of direction from famed director Takashi Shimizu, this entry has a lot going for it. It stands as one of the better early entries in the series, and can be a great deal of fun.

A young woman named Tomie is modeling for a painting by an artist named Hideo. After she defaces the painting in a jealous fit, Hideo kills her. But, as any fan of the series will know... Tomie will not die. And thus she returns to torment the artist and his friends, leading to an intense and disturbing story filled with twists, turns and subversion of expectation...

I firmly believe the main strength that sets this entry apart is the wonderful direction of Takashi Shimizu, who is best known for creating the very popular haunted-house series "Ju-On" and for also directing the first two entries in its American remake series "The Grudge." Shimizu is a fine director when it comes to slow-build, atmospheric horror, and he excels here with some great, creepy sequences of bodily terror. It's arguably the most disturbing of the first three films, and Shimizu it helps to give it a grand sense of dread and intrigue. Especially in some of the very trippy-yet-grounded visuals that he relishes in. We also have one of the best Tomie's of the series here thanks to actress Miki Sakai, who excels in the role in a way not many of the other actresses to portray the character have.

The film does have some faults to it, however. Much as many entries in the series do. I found that while it is a good time, it can often move a bit slowly. To the point it can be boring even. Some scenes feel a tad out of place and wonkilly inserted into the narrative. And much like virtually every other film in the series, it wrongfully assumes that the viewer is intimately familiar with the source material, causing some confusion with those who aren't. And it is a serious problem- adaptations should be able to stand on their own without knowledge of what came before. The films should try and explain the rules and goings on more than they have been to this point. It causes an unnecessary level of confusion for the viewer, and not in an intentional way.

That being said, I'd rank this one right about on par with the previous entry- the very enjoyable but mildly flawed "Replay." It's a lot of fun. It's very watchable. It runs laps around the sub-par original. But it still has a few faults holding it just shy of being a "great" movie. As it stands, it's merely decent. Worth watching for fans of horror and Asian cinema... but probably not for general movie-goers.

I give "Tomie: Re-Birth" a slightly above average 6 out of 10. Another step in the right direction for the series. But not enough of an improvement for me to call it a great film.