The Village

story line is hard to grasp, you might get bored throughout the movie.

This movie was 2 HOURS. I watched it for Ryusei Yokohama and I was quite disappointed and left a little bit confused with the ending.

from what I've understood after watching the whole movie (no ending mentioned),

Yuu(ryusei's character) works in a garbage facility in a province village. aside from segregating trash, they also have a small side job of illegal dumping hazardous waste in secret which is I think from yakuzas or gangsters.
Misaki-- Yuu's childhood friend-- comes back from tokyo to work in the village. they get an offer to feature their village in a documentary and that means that the garbage facility will also be included. Yuu becomes the tour guide for the garbage facility in the show. due to this, Yuu becomes famous around the village and people started to like him.
one day a newbie worker in the facility discovers the illegally dumped waste and reports it to the police.
due to this, the mayor pushed the responsibility to Yuu. Now, Yuu has to try closing this case quietly without getting in much trouble. they acted clueless and cooperated with the newbie who discovered the hazardous waste.
then, the news reports that they've found a body in the facility, which made the problem bigger, and made everybody stressed out. It ruined the reputation of the garbage facility and Yuu became more overwhelmed of his responsibilities.


cinematography was nice, acting was nice, It did give off mysterious vibes but the storyline wasn't the best.
For me, there were many unnecessary scenes and it took 40+ minutes to finally get to the main problem of the movie.
Would I rewatch? small chance.
But being completely honest, if you don't have enough patience, this movie might become a waste of your time.

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I'M DECEIVED! Haha, Is this a Thriller or a Social Drama? But sure, It's a Test to our Patience ! :(

Oops, The Title, the Cover Photo and the Thriller Tag misled me :|
The Cover photo really has a Spooky Horror or Dark Crime Thriller Vibe and Words like REMOTE, VILLAGE etc in the title & summary made me to EXPECT AN INTERESTING THRILLER n curious to know what happened in the village, haha

God! I'm deceived n disappointed !! :)
IT'S MORE OF A DRAMA THAN A THRILLER.
It's more about what happened in a guy's life than what happened in the village.

***** SOME MORE RANTING:
Dropped it twice n finally completed this in my 3rd try-out, it is that SLOTH PACED! It's really a test to my patience!

(Couldn't drop bcz of my "Watching Tradition" of not to drop any drama /movie, once I start watching, Silly Me! ;)
n for Ryusei, pushed myself to give another try :)

BTW, KDrama Crime Thriller "Doubt" made me to sign up for MDL to rant about its slow pacing.
Now I find it better than this (in terms of pacing, not a comparison of genre or plot), atleast it has interesting thriller elements but here it's just social drama + sloth paced.
God, this would be the end of me by the time, I finish watching this movie🫣)

***** STORY:
Enough of my ranting about pacing :) , Now, about the other elements in the movie:

The storyline is OK.
It's a story of a depressed guy stuck in a village with a stagnant life n how his routine job in a waste dumping facility and his respect in the society bcz of a criminal in the family, affect him and how he tries to change himself with the help of his childhood sweetheart.

The Run Time is too lengthy for this plot & for this slow story progression.

The thriller part is only for few minutes towards the end of the movie, which U can predict very easily, it's obvious whose body is that n who would have murdered.
So, it's just Drama with almost zero thriller elements.

***** POSITIVES:
Ryusei's Character n his STELLAR Performance is the ONLY ONE INTERESTING point that kept me watching this boring tale.

His PERFORMANCE is VERY IMPRESSIVE,
initially as an extremely frustrated with life, helpless n depressed soul and
Later, as a lively, happy & confident person, knowing that there is one person (FL) who loves n supports him and all such changes, Love & Hope have brought in him.
He acted these variations of the emotions in his expressions, VERY WELL.

Special Mention ;) :
Ryusei with facial hair and that messy hairstyle, looks totally like a different person.
I didn't recognise him in the Cover Photo, until I saw the cast list :)
And with clean shave n combed hair, looks like a young handsome hunk :)
When he smiled, he reminded me of
actor Tatsunari Kimura :)

***** SPOILER *****
1)
Throughout the movie, there is just a GLOOMY Vibe but Not any Suspense or anything Mysterious, as expected from a Thriller.

Even about the waste dumping facility, I don't find any Mystery around it.
U can guess that there is some ILLEGAL dumping happening at night that affects the environment n resources of the village, when U see a group of persons working in the night secretly, out of working hours.
(If there are murders n bodies dumped there, it would have been done by 1-2 persons, not a big team, right? )

And so, murder mystery by gangsters is ruled out n there is no suspense & mystery Expected from illegal dumping :|

As said above, found one body in police investigations of illegal dumping, it can be predicted n so No mystery, there too.

2)
Also, There are some UNCLEAR points left without explanations.
For eg, THE ENDING:
What happened to FL's case n the police investigation?
Did ML's dad really commit a crime in the past?
Or like the mayor said in the climax about sacrificing people (for his own selfish sake) but in the name of village's development, did the mayor have a direct role in his dad's death, who is innocent, falsely accused n being disrespected as a criminal all these years?

3)
Also in the end, is the ML, back to his former depressed state?
Bcz his Hair style is messy & down, tears in his eyes n doesn't look into the eye of his police friend, in the climax scene, like how he used to be in the beginning.
When he is lively n happy, he has his hair neatly combed & when depressed, has his hair down with a Messy bedhead hair style.
So, the ML has no peace in life, finally!? :O , What? :)
Poor Yuu (Ryusei's Character)!! :|

Finally, I'm not sure of
what I have watched 😂 or
what the director n story writers want to convey through this story or
what story elements or plot points, I have to take as implied / implicit, without direct explanations in the scenes :o

*****
I'm RATING this as 7 / 10,
just for Ryusei's Performance as a depressed man trying to find a motive to live and
for the Direction, Cinematography, Locations and the BGM which are AMAZING!
(These are the ONLY POSITIVES that I found in this)
Else it would be 5.5 or 6.

Pacing, Story Narration and Story Progression have completely gone WRONG.

If the Pacing and the Run Time are Right, this would be 8 or 8.5 .

*****
If U are a fan of Ryusei or can tolerate extremely slow paced Social Dramas, Watch it at your own risk !! :)

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