Kotoko

It's an uneasy film to watch it starts off quite shaky and gets worse as her sanity drops and the film gets very intense when it builds back up the shakiness is gone. Then everything seems pleasant and happy it has quite surreal elements and dream like scenes I wasn't a fan of the constant singing but its important to the character that she sings. There is some uneasy imagery during the breakdown sequences that will stay with you but the movie has a relieving conclusion not the happiest but the best possible outcome. The acting is top notch and you really feel for the character and her family. I didn't understand some things so I may need to re-watch not your average tsukamoto film but definitely a good drama about a devoted mother with a dissociative disorder.

As harrowing as it is heartbreaking, Kotoko concerns a single mother struggling to raise her infant child due to her deteriorating mental illness, and delivers moments of pure terror by blurring the lines between reality & imagination throughout its runtime. A hallucinatory horror drama packed with violent episodes that erupt without warning, the film navigates motherhood, loneliness, nervous breakdowns, toxic relationship, self-harm & more with a confounding narrative that neither makes sense nor carries enough weight and leaves the viewers with more questions than answers in the end. Cocco's unhinged performance in the titular role does much of the heavy lifting here but the film as a whole requires more than one viewing to properly unearth its multitudes of layers & mysteries.

Almost as difficult to write about, as to watch, this harrowing film is a nightmare from start to finish. Single mother, Kotoko is played by Cocco, who we understand co-wrote the film basing it on her own experiences. Some experiences they must have been, too, if this is to be believed. For some considerable stretch she is struggling inside and out the house carrying, awkwardly, her screaming child. The next phase seems to involve real or imagined violence upon this child. All the time the camera, our viewpoint, is skewed and uneven as the sound around deafens. And all the time the lead lady is self harming, in a big way. As if this were not enough the film's director and co-writer also appears and attempts a relationship with this ongoing nightmare, crazy lady. Uncompromising, as ever, this is quite different from Tsukamoto's other work but then I guess that remarkably they are all quite distinctive with just the one thing in common that makes them his own and makes them so difficult to watch. This is raw and desperate humanity desperately trying to maintain the slenderest grip on something the least bit tolerable in the face of rampant madness.

I have never, in my life, heard someone critique a movie just based off of a shaky cam or how it looks when the actors are being filmed. So why are we starting now? It's obviously supposed to be a low budget film or something they just couldn't cover a big budget on. When you watch the movie you realize that it wasn't necessary to put a whole lot into it financially and even with that being said, they still did an outstanding job of making you feel the way you were supposed to. That's really saying something. The movie was intended to be disturbing and I had to cover my mouth every once while because it did what it was supposed to do. I know people who have an opposing opinion will deny this completely. I get it. People have opinions. I will say that this is definitely NOT for young viewers because this movie is almost unsuitable for adults as well surprisingly. This is not just because of the disturbances but also because what's being done in the movie and how it's being done is all in the perspective of a mentally I'll person and you really step into this person's mind and try to make sense of what is happening. A lot of times I wouldn't comprehend what was going on, but at the same time, I DID only because I was in the room with the TV in front of me. I'm not going to spoil the movie because it really is a magnificent underrated movie. I warn you though, the acting is almost surreal and the movie feels almost terrifying as it is disturbing and kinda sad really.

Shinya Tsukamoto directs this film about a woman with severe psychological disorders. It's evident early on that she has almost completely lost her mind because she engages in self-mutilation and hallucinates into seeing evil doppelgangers that do not exist. Tsukamoto has historically made films with somewhat bizarre yet fascinating characters and conflicts. Such is also the case here as he creates a very dangerous, uncomfortable environment for the protagonist's newborn child. The narrative becomes difficult to interpret at times, but this is well shot and oddly absorbing with a unique feel. There is some bloody violence and a few shocking scenes. This is a film that will be very divisive amongst viewers, but I found it even more impressive after a second viewing.