The Village is a dark, gripping thriller.

 

Man, do I know how to choose movies. I can't seem to help stumbling across the darkest, most depressing things possible at all times. Today's blog post is focused on quite the sad tale and what may be one of the bleakest thrillers that I've seen at least in a while, and I've seen countless in my time. The Village was written and directed by Michihito Fujii and starred Ryusei Yokohama. 

The movie follows the story of protagonist, Yu Katayama. Yu lives in the remote and picturesque village, Kamonmura. Being born and raised there, he unfortunately is shunned by his fellow villagers thanks to the past criminal actions of his father. He's unable to escape and live a life elsewhere and instead is stuck working at the garbage disposal facility in order to pay off his mothers debt's to the local Yakuza. He lives a rather bleak life that seems hopeless until his former childhood friend, Misaki Nakai returns to the village after having lived in Tokyo for the past decade. 

Michihito Fujiii crafted a very compelling narrative and thanks to his direction, my attention never wavered during the 2 hour runtime. He definitely managed to bring out the best in his solid cast and some of the cinematography is beautiful. There's a wide variety of shot types used and the camera is very rarely static, mainly remaining still only when absolutely necessary such as for capturing reactions. My favourite shots were the wide shots, specifically those that showcased just how pretty the rural village setting is. One shot that was particularly eye catching was towards the beginning of the movie. The shot began by tracking a bus on it's journey on the road before panning to capture the beauty of the village from a distance. 

Now, the movie has quite a slow, methodical pace which may put some people off from seeing it, but it's worth sticking with. The slow pace helps to keep an air of unease and cloudy tension whilst allowing the subtle nuances in the character development to shine. It also allows the movie to spread the environmental message with the large focus on the waste management and its' impact on the traditional village. 

What stood out to me was how compelling Yu Katayama was as a character. Yu undergoes a character arc in which he starts off as rather meek and devoid of all hope, constantly being bullied and looked down upon before shining bright as a representative of the village and a tour guide for those visiting from outside. His yearn for escape and for purpose really struck a cord and that's thanks to Ryusei Yokohama's brilliant performance. Ryusei made Yu really sympathetic and it's heart-wrenching to watch his loneliness and desire for liberation before Misaki arrives to give him hope. The character's change felt completely natural as he found a light in the dark in Misaki, the woman he loved. I actually felt joy for him as his fortunes seemingly turned around with him becoming much more hopeful and optimistic. 

I really enjoyed seeing Yu interacting with Misaki and much of that is thanks to the wonderful chemistry between Ryusei Yokohama and Haru Kuroki. Haru made Misaki a really warm and endearing character. Seeing her be the only person that actually supports Yu and encourages him to succeed was heart-warming. She really believed in him from the beginning and it's thanks to her being a strong feminine woman that Yu is able to turn things around. She truly personified the fact that behind every strong man, there is a strong woman. Haru Kuroki being attractive also really helped! 

Shido Nakamura was great as Kokichi Ohashi, the former villager turned detective. He's an often overlooked actor, but is always reliable no matter the role he's cast in. He had a friendship with Misaki and Yu that made the ending much more heart-wrenching, especially with his great acting with his body language and facial expressions. The man looked heartbroken! I do think that the movie would have benefitted from having more scenes with him, especially with a focus on his friendship with Yu. 

In fact, the cast in general was solid across the board. Daiken Okudaira in particular was great as Ryuta Kakei, an unfortunate soul working at the garbage disposal facility, working the night shifts and a man who was friendly to Yu. Ryuto Sakuma was another sympathetic character in Keiichi Nakai, Misaki's younger brother. Keiichi is the most innocent person in the village and didn't take kindly to any perceived injustices. He looked up to Yu as he saw him as a hero when he was the representative of the village. Wataru Ichinose excelled at portraying the delinquent son of Shusaku Ohashi, Toru Ohashi. Wataru really seems to enjoy being in the role of troublemakers! 

All in all, The Village is a compelling dramatic thriller with expert direction. It's slow paced, but doesn't suffer much from it. It perhaps could have included more scenes showing Yu's backstory and showing more of his friendships with Kokichi, but the narrative and strong characters really carry the movie. I'd recommend it to those who aren't dissuaded by dark, dreary and depressing thrillers and those who appreciate the slow burn.