Greatful Dead

Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is a lonely young girl prone to outbursts of left field violence, due to being ignored by her poverty-relief obsessed mother who leaves one day, leaving her with her depressed father and older sister. Nami's dad takes on a mistress and still ignored and with her sister now with a boyfriend, Nami seeks constant solace in in an inane shopping channel, captivated by the gadgets and bargains offered by the smiling host.

Years later, Nami, now a young woman has a peculiar hobby in which she observes and takes notes on sad and very lonely elderly people, who she calls "Solitarians". There's the angry middle aged man who barges by everywhere rudely bumping people aside, and there's the crazy homeless looking guy who feeds the pigeons, all collectively becoming Nami's muse and a source of endearment. One specific solitarian catches her attention. He's Mr. Shiomi (Takashi Sasano) an embittered old man, who once empowered with former status, is now alone, lonely and angry, going through each day with a grumpy, dreary resignation.

Nami is captivated by this with Mr Shiomi providing her with much entertainment. One day however a Christian missionary woman Su Yong (Khobbi Kim) visits Mr Shiomi and asks if he'd like her to engage in bible reading with him. Suspicious at first, Mr Shiomi eventually agrees and a hesitant friendship begins between them with Mr Shiomi, becoming less bitter and finding a new appreciation for life.

Nami is not amused. Mr Shiomi's new found zest means he's no longer a "Solitarian" thanks to Su Yong's meddling. What's to be done about this state of affairs? One thing's for sure, Nami will not have anyone messing with her precious hobby or her viewed from afar subjects...

Grateful Dead is well, pretty great actually with it starting off like a typically quirky Japanese comedy before slowly but inexorably getting darker & darker until veering into outright horror territory toward the third act. However, it's really a (very effective) mixture of genres, combining comedy with drama and some social commentary to boot, before its demented conclusion.

A highly recommended little gem it should be sought out by any horror/genre fan or anyone who likes offbeat films in general.

A strong 8/10, just a highly satisfying and nicely demented (but not at all demented for the sake of it) film.

As the synopsis states, the main character has...unique hobbies, had a rough childhood, and is mentally unstable. After acquiring some money, she starts to live the life she wants, and has the freedom she wanted for so long.

However, due to the emotional baggage from that past, her mental state continues to crumble without her even realizing how unwell she is.

While this is labeled a comedy, it certainly doesn't have enough comedy to get rid of that tense atmosphere. The moments that one would consider funny are mostly her quirky personality, but even that is dark humor/black comedy, particularly because it is also a part of her mental illness.

Still, seeing her get super excited and ride her bike grinning ear to ear after finding someone to stalk certainly was hard not to giggle at. Truly some good dark humor, but still quite dark.

Throughout the movie, we see her grow deeper and deeper into her obsession. What was already unhealthy becomes dangerously unhealthy.

There's moments that'll make you cringe, not because it is cheesy, but because of how intense it is. The movie starts off with an already tense atmosphere, but by the end it is completely clouded over in darkness.

Despite the many bad things she does, it is easy to feel bad for her, given her backstory which is explained at various points throughout the movie.

It is also easy to feel bad for the victims.

Essentially you feel bad for pretty much everyone except her parents.

The ending is also executed greatly.

Acting, cinematography, etc., were all great.

Honestly I could probably rate this 9. There were not many flaws aside from the absolute absurdity of it all, but that was the plot and they executed it very well.

What a hoot, a delightful hoot. A neglected orphan grows up to be a serial stalker/killer. She stalks and studies a type. She studies what she has dubbed Solitarians, old people who live alone and wane away until they die alone.

Contrary to most it wasn't the violence/blood that shocked me. In fact, I was expecting more of that.

However, the film has issues trying to connect everything and to be consistent. Good acting, very interesting when the violence and gore is there, but disconnected sometimes. The first half was a bit boring, but interesting message about loneliness until the very end, which is great btw.

Director, Uchida claims that this was originally intended to be a comic film but that now only the first half has humour. Well, I didn't notice it. We begin with the heroine as a child and being ignored by her family and are suddenly thrown with an incident at her school involving a very violent movement with a floor mop. I think I actually gasped. As an adult she develops an unusual lifestyle, not very amusing and more tan a little scary, selfie with a dead and deterorating old man anyone? I have to admit that the lady herself finds all this very amusing and speeds about with her bicycle and binoculars with a manic grin on her face. In the second half things become even more crazy, disconcerting and violent as the true horror of this film become evident. Not an easy view, this is very well made with great performances in very unusual and difficult situations but I won't be rushing to re-visit it for a little while.