Freeze Me

Some films are made that test society's underlying beliefs, and this is one of them. some would say that the women in such a circumstance should call the police (as i would advocate also in every case), but sometimes with some people, pride and society may lead to people hiding. This is the case with Chihiro, who on being gatecrashed by her attackers, is afraid to lose her life once again by revealing what happened to her.

It tests our attitude to the victims in such circumstances, and makes you think. You see the film from the victims point of view... and in that way, for those willing to see a film that tests their minds, then this is a film for you. Outstanding and frightening movie that deserves to be watched..

A thoroughly disturbing film, where the seemingly normality of a working woman's life is blown apart by the arrival of a man from her past. I liked the changes of direction that were made in the story. The beginning shows a perfectly normal group of workers, in a situation that seems perfectly plausible, indeed the acting here is so relaxed and natural. However, with the arrival of a man comes the first turn, and we see the dark secret that has been kept for so long, and this is where the disturbing feelings arrive with a violent crash. As the other members of a yakuza gang rape arrive, five years after the incident, they bring ever escalating levels of violence to the woman's life, and as the ties to her new normal life begin to break away, so do her ties to sanity. There comes the next turn, and her shocking actions. However, being shocking and disturbing does not a good film make, and I felt that it was this turn in direction that started a downward trip for the movie. Having started with a story that felt so real and human, this turn pulled in a totally different direction building a huge gulf between story and my beliefs and sympathies. I felt myself wishing that the story had remained in the vein of the first half, I am sure that it would have made a better film overall. Still, it's not a total loss.

I didn't think this was as good as everyone made it out to be. I also felt that although this was almost some revenge fantasy-type tale from the female's side, it was still exploitative in a way. Haven't seen the director's other movies but I heard they were similar...

I watched this movie with no knowledge of what the story was about. The director did a very good job developing suspense right from the start. When I found out about the plight of Chihiro, I automatically felt for her. Because of what happened, its effect is so traumatizing that she's virtually helpless to do anything. When push comes to shove, Chihiro has the "fight or flight" choice and it's interesting to see what choice she makes. I must commend Harumi Inoue who gave a really great performance. She truly displayed fear, confusion, paranoia well and I felt really concerned for her character. Hey, if a movie made me feel that strong, I think it got it successfully got its message across.

"Freeze Me" depicts intense violence and I don't mean like cheesy Hollywood does. It deals with violence against women which sadly is not fictional in society. The story takes a trippy twist towards the end and watch the character progression thoughout the film. I must say that Harumi Inoue is stunningly beautiful and was great to watch. She's definitely got a new fan!

What "I Spit On Your Grave" should've been. Well, OK, the plot advancement might be a tad contrived, and the weird way a rape victim in this film is portrayed, at least, I hope women aren't actually so victimized by shame in Japan as to maintain a stoic silence that is so firmly entrenched the antagonists can actually blackmail the victim vying against her fear that others might know of her "shame" of being deflowered, abused, or molested. Her inaction for a large portion of the film is agonizing, but understandable in consideration of the themes of the film (action vs. victimization, social shame vs. personal safety, social roles and double standards for men vs. for women). It's an educational bit of work, nicely shot, and generally engaging. Loads better than I had expected it to be. On a neat side note, the star of this, Harumi Inoue, was having dinner at a Sushi joint on fourth, bracketed by a pair of very Yakuza boss looking dudes, tans and black turtlenecks and thick ropey gold chains and tiny glinting glasses, real imposing. My pal Shotaro recognized her. Kind of weird to see a woman out calmly eating sushi that I'd just seen scantly clad, drenched in blood with murder on her mind. Guess that's an illustration of filmic reality vs. actual reality for you.