Homunculus

Those who are interesting in psychology and theories about trauma and such are most likely going to like this movie, and of course you have to be ready for a little Japanese trippy stuff.

I haven´t read the manga so can´t really compare the two but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.

Definitely not a movie for everyone unless you are interested in psychology and the outcome of a personal trauma.

The movie is well acted as much very complicated, the characters reveal themselves along as you are able to understand them.

It takes a lot of attention, and every detail count; my advice is.. Watch it.. Only if you are ready for a puzzled full mind fantasy movie.

As others have mentioned, this new effort from JU-ON director Takashi Shimizu starts off on a very strong and original footing that reminded me more than a little of the cult classic R100. I do love the way that fantastical elements are brought into play to depict abstract concepts and the psychological background of trauma and the like is absolutely fascinating. Love the creative scenes too, like the Yakuza set-piece. Sadly this loses its way in the second half and becomes smaller scaled and long-winded; half an hour off would have helped that. But the ending is pretty decent and the acting great.

Warning: this is not the cortical homunculus with big hand and lip.

A new Japanese movie on Netflix that adapted from the manga with the same name. A homeless amnesiac got his forehead drilled, which allowed him to use his brain more and see into people's inner trauma.

I didn't know about the manga, so the review is based solely on what I saw. The first half was very interesting, as the main character explored his newly discovered ability. That one scene with the high school girl was so weird and mind-boggling. This first half got me invested to see how far the main character would take his ability.

The second half made a sudden change in tone, and became mystery and drama. I had major issue with this story because things did not have explanations, the buildup did not address the character's background, and the story itself didn't even make that much sense. This second half might improve a little bit of there was more impactful background music. Honestly the second half story wasn't that intriguing.

Also, the premise that if one drills a hole into the brain, and somehow this makes more space for the brain to be used more, was just stupid. This reminded my of Lucy, a movie with Scarlett Johansson where the main character got injected some weird blue stuff and was able to use more than 10% of her brain. At least that makes more sense than the premise of this movie. And the 10% brain usage is a stupid myth.

Overall, an interesting story about guilt and trauma, but the second half became convoluted and messy. 5/10.

Unlike the manga ( which I enjoyed and loved ) this movie was ridiculously adapted. They even changed the whole story to fit in 2 hours long but it has so much details.. it would be better if they made it a series or even an Anime!

I saw this because I was curious about it but turned to be disappointed I was looking for something like the manga at least.. what a shame! :( The ending , the protagonist's and Itou's backstory was different from the manga I hate this :/ I was expecting something at least similar to the original story!!

Anyways I gave this a 5 coz I liked Itou here he was prettier than the manga hehehe.