#Manhole is a brilliant thriller with some horror-esque twists.

 

Yes, this is another blog post about a movie that isn't all about action and violence. In my attempts to branch out, I wanted to take a look at very unique and different movies and I thought that the thriller #Manhole fit that bill quite nicely. 

#Manhole follows the story of man named Shunsuke Kawamura. Seemingly quite popular amongst his co-workers at a large real estate company, his colleagues arrange a surprise party for him to celebrate his upcoming wedding to the CEO of the companies daughter that is happening the very next day. Seemingly getting quite drunk at the party, on the way home, Shunsuke stumbles and falls into an uncovered manhole. With his wedding being the very next day, Shunsuke faces a race against time to get himself out of his unfortunate predicament and must do so with a very badly wounded leg. 

I came into the movie expecting a pure escape thriller and the majority of the movie does seem like it is exactly that with the manhole being the singular location shown, however it's so much more than that. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's competent direction ensures that the simple concept of a man falling down a manhole becomes an intriguing and engaging mystery thriller and at times, horror-like. I went from sympathising with and hoping to see Kawamura succeed to hoping that he failed due to the somewhat unexpected twists and turns the movie makes. 

Most of the cinematography is rather solid and on point, but nothing that stands out as extraordinary. There's a lot of static shots used in the movie and some rather neat angles such as when the camera looks down on Kawamura from the top of the hole. There's also some slow moving shots and it might not seem like anything to write about, but it's the story being told with the shots as well as with the editing that makes it work. The editing is rather great. There's some surrealism with Kawamura visualising his potential abductor looking down on him from the top of the hole and even some jump cuts that work like they do in horror, with them providing a little scare. 

The usage of a hashtag in the movie's title suggests the usage of social media and if like me, you thought that social media would play a big role in the course of the movie you were right. Kawamura makes good use of his phone, attempting to call his co-workers, ex-girlfriends, his wife-to-be and even the police at one point. Many of them don't pick up, either being asleep, celebrating after the party or getting ready for the big wedding. His ex-girlfriend Mai, does pick up, but with her reluctance to aid him due to having just gotten back home from work and Kawamura's increasingly irrational outbursts and anger and panic, he eventually resorts to another option. The amusingly named Pecker, is the movie's alternative version of Twitter/X. Kawamura creates an account using an image of a singer that he enhances using an app and pretends to be a girl. This action caused me to becomes a little suspicious of him as he's clearly lying about being a girl and led me to wonder what else he was lying about. That being said, it's a rather innocuous lie and could easily be explained by the fact that people are much more likely to help a woman than a man in need as Kawamura himself explains to Mai. The Pecker situation also takes drastic turns as the public try to help by figuring out the location of the manhole as well as guessing who may be responsible for Kawamura's misfortune.  

The phone that Kawamura uses throughout the movie is amazing. Despite suffering the all down the manhole, the heavy rain fall and being submerged in foam, it never ceases to function. Even the phone's battery is tremendous as it lasts the entire movie and it never loses reception. Whilst, it's a little too good to be true and it probably would have at least stopped working at some point in real life, the phone allows the plot to progress in a neat way. 

With #Manhole being the movie that it is, a lot of it relies on the performance of the leading man. Yuto Nakajima deserves a ton of praise for carrying the movie with him being the sole performer on screen for around 90% of the screen time. He showcases a wide range of emotions such as lashing out with anger and frustration, laughing at the inability to get out of the situation and even becoming maniacal towards the very end. He was a joy to watch and fully deserving of the lead role. He had me also go through the motions with his character from emphasising with him, hoping that he makes it out, to frustrated with him for lashing out at those trying to aid him, although it made sense given his circumstance. He also managed to make the twists and turns work, which is a rather difficult thing to do given the material.

A lot of the other characters are rarely on screen, but I did enjoy Kento Nagayama in his role of Etsuro Kase. He seemed like the other red herring in regard to whom might have been responsible and I felt sorry for him as Kawamura lashed out at him with accusations that were proven to be false. 

I also enjoyed Nao as Mai Kudo. Her voice is heard a lot through the phone and she seemed like she genuinely wanted to help and be a comforting figure despite having broken up with Kawamura 5 years ago. I also loved her role in the movie when it came to the twists and it's difficult to say too much without spoiling it all. 

Overall, #Manhole is a very enjoyable and well-crafted thriller with an excellent leading man. I liked the fact that it showcased that old flames and associates that may have been crossed in the past could prove to be invaluable friends and of help if you attempt to rebuild those bridges. It's an easy recommendation, especially with the twists and turns that flip the movie on its' head.