Before We Vanish
Sanpo suru šinrjakuša
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Three aliens on a reconnaissance mission to Earth take over the bodies of human hosts to explore the world they’re about to invade. On the way they steal individual concepts from the minds of anyone who crosses their path, from work, to free will, to love, leaving behind them a trail of soulless bodies. In doing so they start to unwittingly define the essential aspects of what it means to be human. The film follows Narumi (Masami Nagasawa), whose husband, Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda), becomes one of the three hosts. As the invasion grows nearer, Narumi’s attempts to save humanity from extinction become increasingly entwined with Shinji’s decision on whether to save the humanity within himself. (Arrow Films)
(more)Reviews (3)
Invasion of the thieves of my time. An extremely ambitious sci-fi, which works with an interesting genre element, the overlap of which is purely cognitive-philosophical, but ends with a mixture of stretched scenes, cheesy melodrama and ugly tricks. I wasn't sleeping during anything in Cannes this year, but this cost me all my strength to finish watching without closing my third eye. Kurosawa is a master of literality where it is necessary to direct instead.
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A relatively uninteresting film about how aliens want to conquer the Earth. And yet you can't expect any alien technology. Basically, it just strikes me as a satire on contemporary Japanese society, where there are phenomena that need to be eradicated. Unfortunately, the whole thing is bland, too long, and even the interesting actors can't save it. It lacked the drive to really enjoy it. And it basically ended up like Murakami's 1Q84 – it's really just a romance hidden under a layer of grime.
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This film almost begs to be a special effects spectacle, but the Japanese filmmakers had a lot of surprises in store this time, as this is a film that ultimately played on relative realism, with more psychology and the human factor coming into the plot. Or what an alien attempt to take over the Earth might look like.
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