User Reviews

For international fans I believe that there are two main reasons why one would be interested in viewing this film. First, the film is directed by Anno Hideaki the director of _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ and _Love & Pop_ and second Iwai Shunji debuts in his, so far, only acting role. As for myself, having watched eight of Iwai's films in the last couple of month, I was curious to hear the voice of the long haired spectacled director and see if his performance in front of the camera compared to his remarkable work behind it. Even if his acting does not reach these lofty heights, he does a fine job and cuts quite a striking Caleb Carr-esquire figure. However, the true star of the film is Fujitani Ayako, daughter of Steven Seagal and the writer of the novel upon which this movie was based. She is cute and has an adorable smile, but she is also quite capable of portraying an individual who is in the grips of insanity.

One of the interesting aspects of this film is that the action is performed by primarily two individuals, Iwai and Fujitani, in a worn down, but, in its way, picturesque industrial town. Iwai plays the role of an animation director who bored with his line of work flees Tokyo to his hometown. There he encounters a young girl on the train tracks wearing flashy clothing and whose face is caked in make up. This initial meeting eventually culminates into Iwai's nameless character visiting the girl each day until she becomes comfortable enough to invite him into her home which appears to be an abandoned factory building.

Iwai's character, who is nicknamed "Director" by the girl knows little about the girl, but is eventually able to peace together that the girl lives in a world of fantasy and denial, but also a world in which she is utterly alone. The girl becomes quite attached to the Director, but when he does not reciprocate her feelings in the way she believes he should or even if he steps out to the store, she is terrified of being abandoned. These points in the film make for some scenes that grips the viewer's heart.

Check this film out if you get the chance.

(contains MINOR spoilers)

Thunderous clank of industrial machines, the very heartbeat of the city, opens the film. City moans, crashes and rustles like some metallic yet living creature. Fumes of smoke rise to sky, everything is ragged, worn and so, so gray.

Opening shots of Hideaki Anno's Shiki Jitsu open our eyes to harsh beauty of polluted, urban landscapes like few films have.

And then, on railroad tracks, Girl meets Director and Director meets Girl, setting the plot and starting the careful, subtle character studies of Girl and (to lesser extent) Director, Anno's alter ego just as much as Shinji ever was.

Discounting main characters, strange man with bandage and Girl's mysterious, somewhat threatening Mother (who is always looming just beyond act of answering phone) there is no other characters in this movie.

Ayako Fujitani contributes one of all time greatest portrayals of creeping madness and loneliness. Her magnificent performance and sheer charisma born out of mix of talent and very personal nature of her character* is one of best virtually unknown performances in history of cinema. Legendary indie director Shunji Iwai debuts as actor in role of (surprise surprise) Director and does mighty good job that is sadly out shined by Fujitani's brilliance. But then again, focus of movie is Girl and she gets most of characterization.

(*after all Shiki Jitsu is heavily modified version of short novella she wrote based on her experiences of alienation as multicultural child in L.A)

Compared to characters (which embody themes oh so similar to those of us who have seen Anno's magnum opus Neon Genesis Evangelion) plot is secondary, something that just happens half accidentally alongside with character interactions instead of it propelling the movie. Plot is merely background canvas for all that takes place, yet it IS there and is quite complex affair. And of course interest of more plot oriented viewers is sustained by Anno's trademark titles. They don't just introduce each new day, they also count days to... what exactly? Girl's suicide? End of their short acquaintance? Something more? Something less?

With plot out of focus great part of film relies on great performances and character interaction, but even more on movie's undiminishable highpoint: It is brilliantly directed and features top notch formalism and cinematography.

Anno's framing, camera-work and cinematography are absolutely wonderful with healthy doze of motifs and his trademark fish-eye lens thrown in for good measure. Brilliant pacing and rhyming of shots and scenes is deeply interwoven with wondrous colour schema of red, blue and white. Some long shots are worthy of Tarkovsky and the defining moments of film - such as when Director finally "takes action" near end of film in Girl's basement - stand among most beautiful, best shot photography ever put on film and among my all time favourite scenes.

Framing brings forth constant feeling of entrapment and together with the magnificent set design - the abandonded apartment house (or some such) Girl lives in - with its dazzling peculiarities and ever present ominous staircases come to form very physical and very living metaphor for Girl's psyche out of the very mise en scene. When Director enters "the secret basement" for the first time he literally walks among darkest and deepest forming structures of her mind.

The way Anno blends normal movie camera and hand-held camera is absolutely brilliant and for this film Anno perfected the use of cinema verité camera-work, adding just enough counterpoint for perfectly build shots that create main bulk of movie. Exceptionally effective is the scene in which Director is having party with his old acquintances and friends. Director's nervousness, uneasiness and anxiety among old friends and their high moods is brilliantly evocated by film material that could've been filmed by your neighbor in last new year's eve. Anno has always had eye for such small defining moments of human contact and failures of it.

Shiki Jitsu isn't perfect however; Occasionally Girl's inner world is depicted in blend of live action footage and animation; one of these scenes work really well, one is OK, but unfortunately biggest one of them was just stupid. Luckily this is very minor flaw when looking at grand picture. The Wall continues to be only movie that has brilliantly mixed together animation and live film I fear... Voice-over narrative either isn't the best thing in world, but mostly it works well and is occasionally even crucial and interesting. But then again just as often it's just needless underlining of characters, something Anno skillfully avoided in NGE days.

Despite these flaws this film is firmly rooted in my Top Twenty, over dozen of "perfect" films including likes of Godfather. Emotional heights of performances and brilliance of audiovisual storytelling in this film are really hard to match.

Shiki Jitsu is (sadly) unknown masterpiece of cinema and is whole heartily recommended. You can get DVD with English subtitles from Amazon Japan

10/10

(Just want to add that I've marked this with spoilers, but the first paragraph is completely spoiler-free, watch out for the second one through the end though)

This was my first time seeing a live-action film from Hideaki Anno, already being a big fan of Evangelion, and I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out that I really enjoyed it and a lot of what Anno is well-known for can be seen in this. The film quickly catches your interest as from the very start the main simple plot is established, though you never know what's gonna happen next. The psychology of the characters take a big role in this movie's development, which is an element that was already remarkable in the Evangelion series, Anno does not disappoint in delivering a very well written set of characters. I really liked this movie and how all of its mysteries slowly unfold and I definitely recommend it to anyone who already likes Anno's work or has at least seen Evangelion, and even if you don't know either of those, it's still a great movie nonetheless.

-------------------- Now here's something funny that happened, and be warned, there will be minor spoilers ahead: I started watching this film at around 11h30pm at the 6th of December. The first time the phrase "tomorrow is my birthday" is uttered, it was still Dec 6th. And by the end of the movie we learn that her birthday is actually on December 7th, and that revelation is pretty much how the movie ends. That kinda blew my mind considering how by the end of the film, it was around 1h30am of December 7th, and so the first time she said "tomorrow is my birthday", in real life, it really was. Just wanted to share that funny little coincidence that made the ending of the movie even better for me.

And if you don't care then... well, what can i do? I really just wanted to share this experience somewhere so... yeah. Bye.

One thing is for sure, this film has some of the most gloriously thought out and constructed set designs ever. A lot of the film takes place in the young girl's "apartment" which is about the size of an average K-Mart. Each room is like a different department but it doesn't seem strange once you give in to the world Hideaki Anno has created. Anno comes from years working in Anime so his visual imagination works on a different level than most. Why not have the girl sleep in a bathtub in a big empty basement that's constantly and willfully flooded? This is a beautiful film with lots of stunning photography. When the couple are outside they're usually hanging out on or near railroad tracks, creating all kinds of wonderful lines and framing. The cinematography may not be something that grabs you but the composition of shots will.

On the downside, the story is standard "crazy free-spirited girl captivates man" stuff with a little "here's what happens to victims of abuse (real or imagined)" thrown in. The dialog and philosophy get a little precious from time to time, neither of the two can really act—they're just supposed to be attractive cool people (they are)—but Anno makes the best of their limitations. It's fairly easy to spot the scenes where the girl, Ayako Fujitani, (who wrote the original novella the film is based on, co-wrote the screenplay, AND is Steven Seagal's daughter!) is left to her own devices to be charmingly a little off kilter versus the ones where she is supposed to act a scripted point of story or character development. I don't mean to dis her too hard because she is an interesting soul to spend a couple hours with. No doubt. Shunji Iwai (real life director of a number of highly rated Japanese disaffected youth films, most notably All About Lily Chou-Chou), who plays the guy, a film director (!), isn't given too much to do or say. He's just intrigued by the girl so he hangs around all intrigued and artistically stressed. He's less of an actor than Fujitani but equally as cool and worth spending a couple hours with. This is definitely an indie/arty bag of ennui, but it does do some interesting things and even goes all Dogma 95 for a scene at the end.

This is the first film that I have come across that really gets mental illness right. Fujitani as "she/her" is chaotic and unpredictable. Her actions are irrational, but meticulous in a way. She compulsively follows her rituals each day. She desperately needs someone or something to be her rock, but she is deathly afraid of being abandoned again. Her fantasy world that she has crafted protects her from the abandonment, but at the cost of her sanity and chance at normal life. This film hit a little too close to home, and I will watch it again for sure. Very well done.

I think this movie was beautifully made the story of an oddly ill girl and a movie director who wants to know a little better this crazy women but because of how the movie is written (a bit too poetic for the non poets) not everyone will be able to enjoy this type of movie the way I did.

The way the director could help "she"to be better and we can see the improvement of his actions on the 10 last minutes she didn't harm herself she could meet her mother and she surprisingly said herself the real date of her birthday who she kept proclaiming was "tomorrow" so the director wouldn't leave her alone on her "birthday" so that tomorrow will be the beginning of her new happy life. I appreciated the fact that we could dive into the director thoughts and that it wasn't just a movie without any bad side to it. The director had doubts as well . He questioned himself. Could he take care of a madwomen even though the rollercoaster of emotions started to drown himself mentally and physically? Can he ease her pain? Could "She" be helped? I also loved the way "She" expressed her love towards the director and the other way around when the director confessed the fact that he was in love with her:) Some of the scene or things that "she" talked about where really touching for example the way she used to (in the past cause she succeed and improved) check how she was doing by standing on the edge of the rooftop and "tempting" herself to jump and su$$ide; or again when she talked about hurting herself. Those simple scene were for the hardest to create considering the movie watcher has to feel something while watching those scenes and feel connected to the characters which, I definitely did. So I think The director did a good job. I thank them for letting me appreciate this masterpiece. I am myself mentally ill and this movie makes me feel like it is okay and that their will always be someone by my side. Would recommend!! See y'all the 7th December;) please recommend me some movies!!!.