Sayuri (2024)

Somehow this might make you cry

I am a fan of the director and find most of his works veer into utter insanity. There's always a mix of humor, sadness and general chills. It's one of the better attributes of this director. You know you are about to watch something silly as hell when you watch his movies.

I found that the overall story in this was like 3 different parts. One was a haunted house horror movie, then a Shonen protagonist training montage and then family drama. I was in awe of how it transitioned. It definitely will be for a very niche crowd as it has tons of faults. However, if you just allow yourself to walk into this script you may find it has some good points.

The overall acting is kinda terrible. There were only a few good moments, which when they hit, they were strong. The quickness and dispatching of characters is crazy. It will surprise a lot of people. It is gory but not over the top. What will really set you off however is the reveal of why Sayuri is the way she is. Heavy warning and spoilers but there is SA of a minor in this story. It will be hard to watch even though this movie up until that point was somewhat hysterical.

This is why I said it might make you cry because the ending actually somehow made me tear up because of the wrong doings to Sayuri. The tonal whiplash is also a signature of this director. You may also come to the conclusion that he may not be that grounded himself but that's sort of why I adore his movies.

Which was surprising but understandable. But just like prior movies like OCCULT and SHIROME they tend to force you into all sorts of absurd emotions.
The music also was somewhat hilarious, swinging from Horror to Battle Anime to Sad depression. The ending theme really got me after everything was said and done. The final few scenes are actually really sweet and well shot. I thought overall the movie was well shot. It had just a little bit of everything for trickery to make you feel tense. I particularly enjoyed the flickering light sequences. There's some really pretty golden time shots in this movie. It seemed to be it's signature oddly enough.

I say give it a chance but only if you can get pass the SA and overall sporadic nature of the movie.

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Interesting yet kinda weird

Quite a recent movie with the house haunted by a vengeful spirit clichee we all know. This one sounded interesting to me cuz the spirit is obese and I wondered if there was a reason for that (and there was, which is incredibly heartbreaking).
I liked the pace of the movie until about halfway, when the dementia-plagued (I think) grandma turns into a hippie ghost-repelling-pro, using sheer force of will and tai-chi or smth similar to literally beat the sh*t out of the spirit. It was just so random and totally took me out, given that almost her entire family was just murdered and she could've done something to prevent it, but didn't "transform" until they were dead.
The story of the spirit is unbelievably sad and I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her, but the part where hippie grandma effortlessly gathered her living family for her to murder and then having a boss fight with the spirit after that was just weird. The love interest of the protagonist being alive "inside" the spirit instead of being killed like the family members also seems convenient for the plot.
Overall it's just the usual haunted house with the family trying to get rid of the possession but ironically not using the shaman/religious route but beating the spirit with sheer will and determination. I like the concept of not giving into the fear and despair spirits, ghosts etc would want you to feel, but the random comedic elements feel so misplaced in this otherwise okay plotline

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