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Future" is a recent effort from acclaimed Japanese director Kiyoshi
Kurosawa, best known for horror films such as "Kairo"
and "Cure".
Kurosawa's films have always had an appeal beyond the genre, mainly due
to his measured, philosophical approach, and the way in which he uses
his subject matter as a platform for existential musings on the human
condition. As such, "Bright Future" is not too much of a
departure, being a surreal, almost dream-like tale of urban
disillusionment and malaise, played out through the bizarre metaphor of
poisonous jellyfish. Unfortunately, this probably sounds a great deal
more interesting than it actually is, as the film, whilst thoughtful and
undeniably well made, is far too slow and ponderous for its own good,
and is ultimately as directionless and vague as its characters.
The film is set in Tokyo's urban sprawl, focusing
upon two young men, Mamoru (the ever prolific Tadanobu Asano, "Zatoichi")
and Nimura (Jo Odagiri, recently in the Takeshi Kitano starring
"Blood and Bones") who work in dead end, part time jobs in a
faceless factory. Both seem to be without any kind of ambition or plans
for the future, and spend most of their time simply hanging around in
silence, or staring at Mamoru's pet jellyfish, which he is gradually
acclimatising to freshwater for some unnamed purpose. After their
middle-aged boss offers them full-time employment, as well as trying to
become their friend, Mamoru inexplicably kills him, an act which lands
him on death row. This leaves Nimura, along with Mamoru's estranged
father to look after the jellyfish and to try and make sense of Mamoru's
actions. However, the pet is accidentally let loose into the city
canals, setting forth a series of strange events and odd revelations.
"Bright Future" is a film of quiet anger,
of uncaring characters trying to find their place in a modern society
which they have little in common with. Although this as a theme is
nothing new, Kurosawa tackles it in an interesting way through the
jellyfish, whose gradual adaptation to freshwater mirrors the
character's growing acceptance of the world. Of course, at the same
time, as beautiful and serene as the jellyfish appears to be, its deadly
poison lurks just below the surface, in much the same way as the
characters harbour their murderous rage. As a result, the personal
journeys undertaken in "Bright Future" are neither comfortable
nor obvious, and Kurosawa thankfully steers clear of the clichés of
angst-ridden cinema, dealing with the intangible rather than the usual
whining of materialistic 20-somethings which tend to populate such
films.
The problem with this, and indeed with the film as
a whole, is that whilst it is intellectually satisfying, and
successfully conveys the experiences of the characters, the story
wanders too much to truly engage. Indeed, the narrative feels more like
a series of observations or anecdotes rather than an actual plot.
Kurosawa, who also wrote the script, does tend to work with an almost
documentary-like feel, which has served him well when dealing with films
in which things actually happen. However, since very little occurs
during the running time of "Bright Future", the end result is
sadly quite dull. Most of the film is taken up with stilted
conversations or scenes of characters wandering through the urban
landscape, and it is only towards the end when the pace finally begins
to pick up.
Matters are not helped by the fact that the characters
themselves are sketchily written, and engage only in occasional
conversations, which tend to be monosyllabic at best. Although, to be
fair, this is quite intentional and in keeping with the aims of the
film, the vast tracts of silence mean that the viewer never really gets
to know or feel anything for any of the characters or indeed care what
happens to them.
Whilst
Kurosawa does imbue the film with a rich visual texture, and does
include some quite wonderful shots of the jellyfish itself, the film's
ambient atmosphere actually works only to lull the viewer into the same
kind of trance that the characters seem to exist in. There is a great
deal of cryptic symbolism employed throughout, some of which is quite
effective, though unfortunately most viewers will be too busy trying to
stay focus to notice.
Although it is undoubtedly refreshing to see the filmic
medium being used to deal with philosophical issues in such an
intelligent, almost poetic manner, the fact remains that as a film,
"Bright Future" is not particularly entertaining. To his
credit, Kurosawa has crafted a pretension-free work which certainly
makes the viewer think, and to consider their own place in the world.
However, as easy as it is to admire "Bright Future" after the
fact, its determinedly abstract nature means that it is equally easy to
fall asleep while viewing it.
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