Truth and illusion blurs when a homeless amnesiac awakens from an experimental medical procedure with the ability to see people's innermost traumas.Truth and illusion blurs when a homeless amnesiac awakens from an experimental medical procedure with the ability to see people's innermost traumas.Truth and illusion blurs when a homeless amnesiac awakens from an experimental medical procedure with the ability to see people's innermost traumas.
Lucien Dodge
- Manabu Ito
- (English version)
- (voice)
Doug Erholtz
- Susumu Nokoshi
- (English version)
- (voice)
Kellen Goff
- Ryo
- (English version)
- (voice)
Ryo Narita
- Manabu Ito
- (as Ryô Narita)
Laura Megan Stahl
- Nanako
- (English version)
- (voice)
- (as Laura Stahl)
Featured reviews
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.
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.
I haven´t read the manga so can´t really compare the two but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.
Something must have been lost in translation, surely, as most of the characters in this film react in a way that is inconsistent to what people would do in a Western culture. You have a homeless person who acts all high and mighty when someone proposes shifty things for money, a medical student who is so annoying and arrogant yet no one kicks his ass, two women who just submit themselves when faced with minimal physical restraining and all kinds of extreme reactions to simple words uttered randomly by other people. One girl is practically raped as therapy (now you understand where the term comes from), then wound sucking and blood kissing followed.
The story itself combines the concept of homunculus with Jungian psychology, dodgy medical experiments that make no sense and parapsychology, but doesn't go anywhere.
There some interesting things in the plot, though. The idea that one particular trauma, that we probably don't (or won't) even remember defines so much of our persona that just nibbling away at it would unravel a person. They could have gone with that a lot, but instead the film wastes too much on exposition, then hurries over the interesting part, then ends in a convoluted and pointless ending. I understand it's an adaptation from a manga, but there is no rule that forces following it exactly.
Bottom line: a weird concept with some interesting details, but a poor cinematic implementation and I can only assume some bad translation as well.
The story itself combines the concept of homunculus with Jungian psychology, dodgy medical experiments that make no sense and parapsychology, but doesn't go anywhere.
There some interesting things in the plot, though. The idea that one particular trauma, that we probably don't (or won't) even remember defines so much of our persona that just nibbling away at it would unravel a person. They could have gone with that a lot, but instead the film wastes too much on exposition, then hurries over the interesting part, then ends in a convoluted and pointless ending. I understand it's an adaptation from a manga, but there is no rule that forces following it exactly.
Bottom line: a weird concept with some interesting details, but a poor cinematic implementation and I can only assume some bad translation as well.
Well starting from the Manga, it is way a hard piece to adapt, mostly because of his complexity and exploration of the human psyque, in this movie all the interesting charts between the charachters are just empty and as I said before that complexity is lost with this movie. It is not as deep as it should, but good try.
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.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaThe "Homunculus" movie is based on a manga with the same name.
- How long is Homunculus?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 55m(115 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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