Already dead

One Cut of the Dead (d. Shinichirou Ueda)

Clever and funny horror flick from austerity Japan. Budget is small and so are the living quarters. It’s mainly set in an abandoned facility which may have been used for wartime atrocities too, folding Japanese war history with its industrialization and its current abandonment of such industries. The film isn’t even the main show, as the producer informs the director, but an amuse bouche for the film proper which will air right after. It’s not even cinema, but a pre-something, and yet it’s far more entertaining that many films these days. The English title is less effective than its Japanese original, which means “Don’t stop filming!” Interesting is the family formation that occurs in the movie, somewhat similar to Kore-eda’s assembled family of misfits in Shoplifters. I found this slightly regressive, to end with its reconstitution, but it’s only to be expected diegetically. Despite the laughs, there is a dark undercurrent with the way the director insists on letting the cameras roll: keep working until you’re dead, or, in this case, you’re the undead. Basically, that’s the ethos of Japan at the moment which the film captures too perfectly.

#2019 #22