Homunculus (2021)

From a non-manga reader

(no spoilers) Hearing that there was a lot lacking, I do feel that. Otherwise, the cinematography was gorgeous. The lighting hits a sweet spot. Ayano Go was great; I think this role definitely suits him.

The first half was great; it's pacing felt natural and I could easily follow the story. Second half felt a little strange. If I had to guess, this is where they cut a lot of original material.

(spoilers) The introduction and revelation about Nanako/Chihiro didn't have the impact that it should've, considering how important it is for our main character. And Manabu's past got covered within like the last 10 mins of the movie. This is something that you need to dedicate a whole episode for each character (ofc they couldn't do that). That's why adaptations are so tricky.

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I watched Homunculus while having breakfast on my day off, knowing almost nothing about the plot or the cast.
I knew it was a pretty popular manga so I gave it a try because lately I'm into live action adaptations.

The plot is not that easy to follow.
Long story short: an homeless guy who suffers from amnesia gets involved with a medical student who believes that if we make a hole in the middle of our forehead we can see things that other people don't. The main character has to live with this hole in the head for seven days to prove to the medical student that the experiment was a success.

The first half of this movie was brilliant.
Narita Ryo character ( God bless his acting skills) is weird, it catches your eyes from the very first time it steps on the scene.
But, towards the end, the plot get all messy.
There's a huge plot twist but it was all rushed up.

In the end, I might say that you can enjoy this movie just for Narita's character.

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Maybe I just had a huge expectations of this film, so that I feel quite disappointed so bad.

I remember very well how I used to wait for this comics routinely every time they released, and this comic was my the first comic that I bought using my personal money.

So it seems natural that I have expectations excessively.

In Indonesian:
Mungkin saya punya ekspektasi yang berlebihan terhadap film ini, sehingga jatuhnya saya cukup kecewa dibuatnya.

Saya ingat betul bagaimana saya dulu menunggu komik ini rutin setiap ia akan terbit, dan komik ini merupakan komik pertama yang saya beli menggunakan uang pribadi.

Jadi wajar sepertinya kalau saya punya ekspektasi yang berlebihan.

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Fun & Easy to Follow for Genre Fans

I don't understand what was difficult for other people to follow in this movie. It all seemed straightforward to me (though I've seen dozens of movies that are just like it). I enjoyed the directing, as it reminded me many times of other medical-experimentation horror movies, especially Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator and also From Beyond. It had a fair mix of shots and campy vibes from each. The mad scientist doctor had definite Dr. Herbert West vibes, and the second-sight unlocking of abilities was similar to From Beyond. Both of these have inspired countless movies over the years, so some of the elements are just genre staples at this point. It was nice to see though.

If directors are going to borrow heavily from films of the past, I expect them to do something that would have been difficult or impossible to do in the past. The computer generated effects 100% fit the bill there. It gave an awesome aesthetic to the film-- both creepy and beautiful, sometimes all at once. None of them could have worked before in high quality representations (in practical effects it would have been nearly impossible).

The ML's acting was pretty compelling. The co-star was campy af, but as mentioned, that worked for the genre. I thought the length might over-stay its welcome, but I honestly wished it was longer so that they could explore more "traumas". Honestly, I loved the physical representations of people's issues. Some were obvious, but some were quite clever. The teen girl in particular was an interesting set of ideas that gelled quite well.

Altogether, it was a bit too derivative to be a perfect film, and the tone was slightly uneven as well (the campy vs the serious), but it was still a nice effort and thoroughly enjoyable. In my view, it could have gone MORE cerebral because it kept threatening to become truly unique and intricate, but it never did.

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