Koryu no Mura is a fun time.

 

Yugo Sakamoto is swiftly becoming one of my favourite directors. After having thoroughly enjoying Baby Walkure and Aru Yomuin, I was excited to watch his other works such as the subject of today's blog post. Koryu no Mura was a movie in which I didn't know exactly what to expect and the fact that it had been classified as a horror movie intrigued me. Yugo Sakamoto once again directed and wrote the script for the movie along with editing it as well. 

The movie begins with a merry band of friends on a fun night out. In the spur of the moment, they decide to go camping the very next day and invite some more friends along before setting off. They stop for a barbeque in a nice, green field and make small talk before getting back into the car. Before they are able to reach their destination, their car suffers a flat tire. Unable to fix the tire, the group venture off to find some help and stumble upon a small village with the name Tatsukiri and are met by a seemingly friendly if zany man, Shinjiro, whom offers the group food and shelter for the night. The following morning, alarm bells are raised as Keisaku, a member of the group, has gone missing, but the group are made to eat breakfast. At the breakfast table, Takanori, another of the friend group, is murdered by villager Chiyo right before the groups' very eyes. 

Yugo Sakamoto sure knows how to direct low budget movies. He's become something akin to a low budget king and it's easy to see why with his body of work. I loved how he framed a rather zany narrative and made it incredibly joyous to watch. The usage of smartphone footage at the beginning and the very end of the movie was a very smart move. By filming the group of friends hanging out in this manner, it made the interactions seem much more natural and the friendships seem much more genuine which definitely helped with immersion. It felt like something posted on social media everyday. 

I also appreciated the switch up that occurred once the group got to the village. The smartphone footage changed into a much more traditional form of cinematography and it worked imo. There were a lot of fixed shots that focused on reactions and setting the tone for certain scenes with a few subtle moving shots that highlighted and emphasised growing tension. When the movie reaches certain points and the action ramps up, the camerawork becomes much more frantic an shaky. 

Despite the synopsis painting a picture of a traditional horror movie and the opening 30 minutes seeming as such, in the latter half, Koryu no Mura flips everything on its' head and the movie turns into a tense action flick. That might not be something that everyone will enjoy, but I loved it! There are some very small hints to this in the barbeque scene dialogue and some of the characters that seem ready to defend themselves are met with rather surprising fates. My expectations were subverted in a pleasant way.

The action itself is pretty solid overall with some rather enjoyable fight scenes. There's some entertaining one against many fights, some highly engaging one vs duos, some shooting and a tense standoff. The action is framed in a manner in which, every action is clearly visible and fights are easy to follow. There's some really great use of slow-motion used in one fight in particular that emphasises the impact of punches to the face. The camerawork dances around the action rather gracefully despite being a little shaky. 

What's fascinating about the narrative is the fact that the youthful gang of friends are forced to stand up against the tradition of the village of Tatsukiri and the elders who run it. The tradition itself is a set of nonsensical rules in which evil deeds are done, something which form the get-go would set most people against them. The movie therefore could potentially be stating that you should not go along with nonsensical rules and perhaps a certain violence may be warranted to adopt some real change whilst punishing those who exploit others for the sake of their own enjoyment or gain. I might be wrong in that interpretation though. 

As far as the performances are concerned, I thought that everyone involved did a great job and nailed their respective roles. Wataru Ichinose was a joy to watch as he seemed to be having a ton of fun in a quite wacky role. He held a strong physical presence when needed and came across as a crazed madmen. 

I'd also like to give Masayuki Ino some props as he excelled in the fight scenes and seems to be a favourite of Yugo Sakamoto's as they've worked together several times. It was nice to seem him in a larger role as I enjoyed his work in Aru Yomuin. 

All in all, Koryu no Mura is a splendid low budget movie. With a refreshing short runtime of 1 hour and 6 minutes, it stands out from the overly long competitors and never leaves the viewer bored and wishing for it to end. There's a lot of action crammed into that short runtime and Yugo Sakamoto has proven to be one of the best at working within small budgets. I highly recommend the movie as it is a very fun time.