Before Sion Sono's "TAG" (2015), it was "THE CHASING WORLD" in what is a fast-tempo, straight-forward chase sci-fi thriller compared to the surreal horror absurdity of Sono's most recent adaptation of the same novel source. Both might share a similar concept, and shades of "ALICE", but still, are totally different beasts.
Here the story follows teenager, Tsubasa Sata, flung into an alternative universe, ruled by a masked tyrannical emperor, yet this parallel world is linked to his own. There he discovers that anyone with the last name "Sato" is hunted-down in some sort game (known as Death Chase) by hunters dressed in black with electronic smiling masks. Rules do apply, as the siren blares to start it and finish off.
Obviously a low-budget enterprise, as you can see its limitations from its scaled-down approach, a confined journey, but it remains durably suspenseful and dangerous, in spite of the primitive action of constant foot chases, and the odd psychical combat and outrageous death caused by the hunter's lethal weapon of choice; steel wire. It's exhausting, just watching these characters putting in the big ones, as they huff, and puff with sweat rolling off their faces. It's well-shot, suitably paced with a fluid story centered on philosophy and imperial themes, while foreseeable, the mystery of the circumstances interestingly opens up piece by piece. Nothing particularly complicated about it, as it's full of concise exposition and character arches in presenting the rippling consequences of one dimension affecting another. It finishes on an ending that leaves you wondering just how far they can go with the idea... going by its sequels, real far.
"Parrall worlds exist indefinitely".
