Phantom

I was contacted by email through IMDb and got suggested to watch this movie...and oh how I don't regret it. I'm really into this kind of pointless yet interesting and finished too soon movie. I didn't know any of the actors involved and it was nice to watch fresh faces being so convincing and intense. The cinematography is really beautiful and I feel like I've traveled through Tokyo, through a really interesting and disturbing Tokyo. All in one, I was pleasantly surprised and I will tell my friends to look at for this one! I'm a fan of non blockbusters and kinda intimate movie that focus on a relationship only. We don't have explosions or any action, it's with an introspective feeling that we relate to it, not only by adrenaline, and it's always a pleasure. Good job to everyone involved !

I wasn't able to sit thru the whole movie in one sitting and alas the password changed before I could get back to view it. But I have to say that from what I saw it was a very well planned/designed/produced movie. The movie materials from their web site and other things presented gave me a very interesting perspective on a movie that doesn't have dialogue - as in the mouths are moving to the sound -- everything is off-camera. I haven't thought of that idea for doing a movie. If ever it comes along for viewing publicly (or the film owners would like my review of the second half and can get me a new password) I'd like to see it thru to the end. Thanks for inviting me to view the preview.

"Phantom" is a rather strange film. It's the story of a girl who spends a night with her boyfriend and they talk about various stuffs. But to summarize the story of "Phantom" is completely pointless. This film is like those movies that when summarized, you don't know nothing about the movie, because they are much more than just a story. Like movies such as "2001, A Space Odyssey", "The Tree of Life", "Wings of Desire" and so on... In the same way, "Phantom" is a film-experience. This is by no means a traditional movie! The most striking point is that all dialogues are voice-over, as if the couple was recorded while talking. The dialogues are very interesting. They talk about the difficulties of earning money, about the crisis, but also about family, love, identity, etc.. It actually made me think about my own life.

And while they talk, we can see shots of the couple or places in Tokyo or various scenes. Visually the film is a pure wonder ! If you like (and look for) movies with a brilliant cinematography, you mustn't miss this one. The style of this movie is groundbreaking. A kind of experimental surreal movie with an astonishing cinematography.

A good surprise from an underground movie I expected nothing from.

It's night. A girl and her boyfriend can't sleep. After a day of unsuccessful attempts to find a proper job, they don't want to suffer life "as it is" without having at least tried to change something. But before you can change, you have to reflect, and that's what they do during the course of this small-scale, but yet enchanting art-house picture. First in their bedroom, and then wandering around the streets, the two of them exchange their perspectives on life in the big city, as part of a crowd, as a small wheel in the capitalistic machine, and ultimately as seekers for happiness and relieve. The dialogue is sort of a voice-over-soundtrack to more or less blurred images of anonymous metropolitan images, which are from time to time interrupted by a return of the camera eye to the couples' bedroom where the exchange continues – or still takes place, since it is unclear where they are positioned precisely. While the girl outlines her problems with having an identity in a world where identities don't mean a lot any more, the boy takes the position of an almost Socratian questioner, leading her to refine her views. While in one way sharing the idea that something can be done to alter society – a society more dead than living, more mechanical than solidary –, they also share the notion that exploitation (to some people, by some people) is inevitably an (albeit ugly) part of the way people use to live nowadays. Buy isn't the real tragedy the fact that while noting that and trying to escape to a better way of life, you doing nothing more than reassuring the system? Questions are tough in this one, a film where an average couple takes on a sort of "amateur sociological perspective" to question the world they live in. Not easy, but appealing nonetheless.

Review by Matt:

What is a phantom really? Is it from the opera? Is it something that Ben Affleck has to fight? Or is it a superhero in a purple suit that punches criminals with a ring shaped like a skull? I mean, you could be right if you guessed any of these, however, there is a deeper meaning behind the word phantom. In the appropriately titled film "Phantom" from director Jonathan Soler, the question is asked; "Are we all phantoms of this world, and do we simply go by living without a trace to others around us?"

"Phantom" is the story of a Japanese couple having a late night conversation about life. Neither character has a name, which reinforces the "phantom" concept in the film. None of their conversation happens in dialogue, but rather in narration which deals with everything from not having enough money to pay rent, to moving back in with a parent to, yes, farting. Scenes seem to be played back in forms of flashbacks, done in a very art-house style.

There are numerous themes in "Phantom" namely loneliness, self-doubt, and the concept of relying on another person for support. Both characters are comfortable around each other and share doubts and fears, the female character more so than the male character. As their conversation escalates, more philosophical elements come into play.

The female character references the work of Fumiko Hayashi, namely her work "Hōrōki" a female coming-of-age story which was later adapted into the anime "Wandering Days." Would I call "Phantom" a feminist film, not really, but rather I think it deals with the theme that women have it harder in Japan, which is largely a society run by men with women acting in the subservient role. The male character is a little more oblivious to this concept as he tries to tell her that she can do anything, which shows his nativity to a women's plight in Japanese culture. Granted, it's much better for a women in Japan than it was 100 years ago, but it takes a while to break boundaries and taboos that women are equals in a male dominated society.

Another reference is made to "Kanikōsen" a book about the hardship of Japanese crabbers and their struggle against exploitation. With young people these days taking any job, which might be well below their education level, you can see how this book would have an effect on any young person who thinks they are being taken advantage of in hard economic times.

The other important element of "Phantom" is the conversation of being a ghost versus a phantom. When you think of ghosts, you think of people that have died, but continue to inhabit a material world. A ghost leaves it's mark and continues to live, at times interacting with the living, depending on who you speak to. A phantom, on the other hand, can be a spirit that still inhabits the living realm, but no one is aware of it's presence. This is the plight of our two central characters; they feel like they are being ignored from a societal perspective and are invisible to the world, and aren't leaving a mark. With a global economy still reeling, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, and with more a more college graduates without jobs and burdened by debt, it's becoming harder to leave a mark. Sure, you can take out more loans to do what you really want to do (the female character mentions that she wants to open a bar), but it's a scary proposition to someone who lacks the self-confidence, and more importantly, money, to make their hopes and dreams come true.

Overall, "Phantom" is an interesting exercise. It's shot in a dream- like way with plenty of sub-text about the living poor and a disenfranchised youth that isn't limited to Japan. The two actors, Yuki Fujita and Masato Tsojioka, give convincing performances as two people who trust each other and are each other's support structure, but the acting looses something when all the dialogue is done as narration. It's interesting and reinforces the concept of being lost, but it becomes distracting throughout the entirety of the film.

Soler has a good eye for finding something out of nothing. His vision of Japan is interesting as it focuses on things that I'm sure many Japanese take for granted during their daily routine. The mundane if you will, that we often overlook. I'm not a Japanophile by any means, so I'm sure that many of the shots have more meaning, but at times it seems like art, for art's sake. Will "Phantom" start a revolution? Probably not, but looking at it from a Western perspective, I believe it captures universal angst for most young people who are trying to be heard in a world that has it's ears plugged.

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