Very interesting discussion. I did not buy the ending of the film; it felt contrived and too obviously trying to make a "point" (to me that point, and the ultimate point of the film, is that every living thing, from the villagers to the corporate types to the wild wasabi, the ginseng with the thorns, to the deer, is merely trying to live its life, and sometimes that is, and indeed must be, at the expense other lives). The father's reaction to seeing his daughter lying in the meadow made no sense to me. Clearly, he did not see his daughter attacked by the deer; what he sees is Hana lying on the ground. A father's reflex, after spending hours searching for her, would have been to run as fast as he could to see how she was - she might be sleeping, she might be unconscious, she might be dead, etc., but the father could not possibly have known this from the distance where he stands at the edge of the forest. So the ending failed for me because It was psychologically implausible, and nothing in the film prepared me for either the "hallucination" of Hana and the deer or the absurd behavior of the father in that fraction of a second. I confess I found the same strained implausibility in Drive My Car, and so I am not a huge fan of Hamaguchi, though I don't deny he has great talent. This film was mesmerizing to watch, and I enjoyed it far more than Drive My Car.
Seems like the movie prepared you for the end which you don’t want accept. Scared me like the hunters after Bambis mom. Gave me kind of whiplash likecthe end if Taxi Driver.
Very interesting discussion. I did not buy the ending of the film; it felt contrived and too obviously trying to make a "point" (to me that point, and the ultimate point of the film, is that every living thing, from the villagers to the corporate types to the wild wasabi, the ginseng with the thorns, to the deer, is merely trying to live its life, and sometimes that is, and indeed must be, at the expense other lives).
The father's reaction to seeing his daughter lying in the meadow made no sense to me. Clearly, he did not see his daughter attacked by the deer; what he sees is Hana lying on the ground. A father's reflex, after spending hours searching for her, would have been to run as fast as he could to see how she was - she might be sleeping, she might be unconscious, she might be dead, etc., but the father could not possibly have known this from the distance where he stands at the edge of the forest. So the ending failed for me because It was psychologically implausible, and nothing in the film prepared me for either the "hallucination" of Hana and the deer or the absurd behavior of the father in that fraction of a second.
I confess I found the same strained implausibility in Drive My Car, and so I am not a huge fan of Hamaguchi, though I don't deny he has great talent. This film was mesmerizing to watch, and I enjoyed it far more than Drive My Car.
I am so glad that you all reviewed this film! It was excellent and thank you!
What did you think of Evil Does Not Exist?
I'm seeing it this Thursday I can't wait!😊😊😊
Seems like the movie prepared you for the end which you don’t want accept. Scared me like the hunters after Bambis mom. Gave me kind of whiplash likecthe end if Taxi Driver.
Its so funny how Hamaguchi doesnt even know about his own film, it just flows hahaha