Spooky ahh love triangle
I really did enjoy this though mostly. The pacing is kinda weird and I feel like there are a lot of really interesting ideas that the movie seems to almost lead to, only for the last twenty minutes or so to feel a little anticlimactic. It’s almost like the first hour or so were directed by one guy, and then they switched to someone else for the last 30 minutes.
More than anything else though, Shikoku is really beautiful to look at. This is one aspect where the film never falters. Colors are incredibly rich, nearly to the point of over-saturation. Even when much of the scene is shrouded in darkness and fog, the bits that you can see are so pretty that you just want to stare for a minute. So many shots feel like looking at chiaroscuro paintings and I love it (look! I learned a new word the other day).
There is also a real feeling of genuine menace to much of this movie, particularly in the first half. Shots linger longer than you’d like them to and the music often swells into these really discordant tones that swallow everything up and make you feel certain that something horrible is going to happen… and then there’s a cut and you can breathe again. This sounds like it would make for an unsatisfying viewing experience but it honestly made for some of the most unsettling moments of the whole movie. As most people who are into horror know, it’s often best to not show what’s under the bed and behind the closet door.
But all of this buildup is mostly left unrewarded with the aforementioned rocky end. I guess I just was hoping for something more than a ghostly love triangle and a goofy deus ex machina. If Pulse (which I have yet to review here) does way too much with its final thirty minutes, then Shikoku does not do nearly enough, leaving its honestly brilliant setup to tread water and slowly sink into green goop while some fucking rando starts throwing rocks at it.
TLDR— thing is fucking beautiful, scary, and naturalistic in an incredibly impressive way but shits the bed at the end.
Spooky ahh love triangle
I really did enjoy this though mostly. The pacing is kinda weird and I feel like there are a lot of really interesting ideas that the movie seems to almost lead to, only for the last twenty minutes or so to feel a little anticlimactic. It’s almost like the first hour or so were directed by one guy, and then they switched to someone else for the last 30 minutes.
More than anything else though, Shikoku is really beautiful to look at. This is one aspect where the film never falters. Colors are incredibly rich, nearly to the point of over-saturation. Even when much of the scene is shrouded in darkness and fog, the bits that you can see are so pretty that you just want to stare for a minute. So many shots feel like looking at chiaroscuro paintings and I love it (look! I learned a new word the other day).
There is also a real feeling of genuine menace to much of this movie, particularly in the first half. Shots linger longer than you’d like them to and the music often swells into these really discordant tones that swallow everything up and make you feel certain that something horrible is going to happen… and then there’s a cut and you can breathe again. This sounds like it would make for an unsatisfying viewing experience but it honestly made for some of the most unsettling moments of the whole movie. As most people who are into horror know, it’s often best to not show what’s under the bed and behind the closet door.
But all of this buildup is mostly left unrewarded with the aforementioned rocky end. I guess I just was hoping for something more than a ghostly love triangle and a goofy deus ex machina. If Pulse (which I have yet to review here) does way too much with its final thirty minutes, then Shikoku does not do nearly enough, leaving its honestly brilliant setup to tread water and slowly sink into green goop while some fucking rando starts throwing rocks at it.
TLDR— thing is fucking beautiful, scary, and naturalistic in an incredibly impressive way but shits the bed at the end.
