Kantoku Kenji

I would like to first get this out of the way. With this being Koreeda's most popular and watched movie to date, with everybody praising it, I think, as a Koreeda film, it isn't his best and is a bit overrated. This goes to show just how good a filmmaker Koreeda really is. I think his other films, mostly Shoplifters, After Life, and Our Little Sister, do a better job of telling a narrative family drama like this. I really had sky-high expectations for this film, and felt a little bit disappointed as I thought this film would be better than After Life. But it is still a very good film. I hope this film is used as a gateway or rabbit hole into Koreeda's entire filmography, because it really only gets better from here. That out of the way, this film felt like Koreeda's highest quality in terms of picture. It is super clear and clean; you can tell he finally got the biggest budget he so deserved. But for me, I felt like this took a little bit of the charm of Koreeda's older films from the 2000s til the 2010s, because it felt so simple and indie. To me, that is what Koreeda truly represents in my eyes. I thought that the multiple perspectives of each character were a very interesting take and were a welcome change for a Koreeda film. His films are usually very linear and straightforward; this one was the opposite of that. The writing was very good for this sort of thing and wasn't very confusing at all somehow. It really was paced very well. The actual story is so heartbreaking, but at the same time, I didn't feel fully invested in the story like his other films for some reason. Maybe because I was tired, but it just didn't hook me as Shoplifters did. My favorite story element was definitely the whole thing with the Sensei. I really felt bad for him and what he had to go through. Earlier in the film, I kept saying, "What the fuck is wrong with the school?" And then they show what is wrong with the school. That was pretty funny. Pretty good Koreeda film, but far from his best.

This was pretty dope. I enjoyed my time watching the Backrooms re-release for the "Everything Must Go" edition. Watching this for the first time was a refreshing feeling. I like what this film represents in terms of indie filmmaking. Everything about the fact that this was a mainstream film about a niche Creepypasta within Gen Z was pretty cool. I think that this being an authentic backrooms representation is really cool. I haven't seen that Slender movie that came out a while ago, but it had to have been trash. I still think it's a bit surreal that a grainy beige image of a liminal office room in Oshkosh, Wisconsin sparked this indie iconic horror media franchise. I feel like this is the biggest full circle moment for online analog horror projects. I remember I would watch a bunch of videos about wired thing son the internet; my favorite YouTubers that would talk about these topics were easily Jexpo and BlammeitonJorge. I would watch these in high school at the age where I still would be able to sleep at night, but still be a little creeped out. These were some good times. Sometimes I still watch Nexpo to see his next beautifully written and edited horror videos. Now to the movie itself. I really liked the whole psychological horror stuff with it and how it didn't go crazy because of the Backrooms; he went crazy because the Backrooms made him see reality. I thought that was really cool. Although I wish they stuck with his character, though. My favorite part of the entire movie was the entire found footage stuff that was made by Kane himself. I thought that showcased his ultimate creativity in this film. This captured the analog horror so well. I loved the actual set design, props, and also the makeup and costuming in this film. It was done so well, and captured the world-building of the backrooms the best, honestly. The design of the creatures that reside there was so dope. My biggest problem with the movie is that it ends on the most obvious sequel setup of all time. Right when things were getting interesting with the company researching the Backrooms, the movie just ends. So I guess A24 knew exactly what they were getting out of Kane Parsons and that this is going to be the next new mainstream over-saturated fad of the 2020s and beyond. Now, talking about the bonus footage, it was cute; it didn't add anything to the main story narrative. It gave us how the liminal objects work and how the backrooms expand. Love the animation of everything too since it was completley first person POV. But **GOD DAMN WHY DID RIO 24 HAVE TO BLAST THE GOD DAMN VOLUME OF THIS PART OF THE MOVIE AND THIS PART ONLY! I kept my ears plugged the entire time because this shit was so unnecessarily loud for no fucking reason.** Speaking of Kane Parsons, it is amazing that he was 20 or so when he directed this, and ultimately he should be the only one to have directed this. He is the only person aside from a couple chronically online facinated people with the Backrooms lore that should be creatively involved with this series. I need to watch his other Backrooms stuff on his YouTube, and I can't wait to.

After watching the original short film, this actually is better than the actual movie. This script and story is perfect for the short film format. I mean the pacing felt way better, I think the character motivations were clearer because they're just thieves. I think the screen of Anthony stealing the wallet from the car did more for this short film than whatever was done in the feature. This has a lot of cute indie short film charm. Only thing is I wish they showed the actual bookstore robbery.

This being Wes Anderson's debut is pretty insane. I mean for him to go from this to *Rushmore *is pretty insane. I mean this film is so different from the rest of his films in so many ways, most notably the cinematography of course. I mean this doesn't look like a Wes Anderson movie because, I mean nothing is symetrical and there is not much aw inspiring set decorations. It's pretty cool that he came from humble beginnings with this first feature to where he is now. That being said, I didn't enjoy this film much. Maybe it was because before watching this it took me 20 minutes to fix my damn soundbar at 11:30 pm while also exhausted from the day, which may have ruined my attitude. I didn't really like this story, I thought that most of the motivations of the characters weren't set up well at all. I never understood why these characters wanted to steal in the first place. That was the most confusing part of this film for me. This made me not really care for any of the characters at all. This was just kinda boring. Some parts were funny, but those were really sparse. I just felt like this movie feels unfinished and unpolished. I mean I think I really value character motivation a lot and I just feel like there isn't any of that. I might've missed something really important, but I don't know, I felt like Wes would've put something pretty obvious for character motivation in there. I felt like that this made the pacing of the movie feel so long. It feels over 2 hours instead of only 90 minutes. I think this film needed more high stakes heists, more locations, supporting characters, and everything. I understand that this was micro budget, but even then you had make a 60 minute feature. Just needed more, or cut down that's actually there.