Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

ebossert Vital is arguably Shiny Tsukamoto's best movie, and one of the most resoundingly beautiful films I have ever seen. This is an all-time favorite for me.This film follows a young man whose girlfriend was killed in the same car accident that caused his loss of memory. He soon enrolls in medical school and signs up for a dissection class to study the human body. Outside of class he begins to see his dead girlfriend in his dreams, but he is confused as to whether they are dreams, memories, or supernatural visitations. So there are lots of interesting themes at work here, and Tsukamoto plays with all of them while at the same time mirroring the beauty of biology. And how many romance movies can think of that emphasize the beauty of biology? There are not many films like this in existence.One major positive of this film is the direction, lighting, framing of shots, and cinematography – which are all fantastic. Every frame is mesmerizing in its color scheme and visuals. For example, there's a lot of orange used near the beginning, but it later shifts towards a blue scheme that supplements the rainy environments. It reminded me a lot of Christopher Doyle's cinematography (which can be seen in films such as "In the Mood for Love" and "Hero"). Although Doyle did not do the cinematography for Vital, the visuals have the same craftsmanship and impact. Coupled with a hypnotic score, they really enhance the feel of dreams and memories.The main actor here is Tadonobu Asano, who is mega popular and you've probably seen him in films such as Ichi the Killer and Survive Style 5. He's perfectly cast here as a rather gloomy fellow who is reserved but also suffering mentally and emotionally under the surface.From what I've said thus far, this may seem like a somewhat downbeat film, but I feel that this is a heavily romantic experience, and this is most strongly presented during the dream sequences because this couples' relationship was prematurely taken away from them and these brief moments are the only times they get to spend together – if they're actual supernatural visitations. Remember, they could simply be dreams or memories. Regardless, the dream sequences are very memorable, my favorite of which occurs on a beach and incorporates a fairly passionate dance performance.One fact that was brought to my attention while reading Tom Mes' book "Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto" (a fantastic book, by the way, that I highly recommend), was that Tsukamoto intentionally downplayed the grotesque aspects of dissection in favor of a focus on artistry and beauty. This is an excellent strategy when making a romance film. If you're a viewer who is squeamish about dissection scenes, you really have nothing to worry about. The majority of the dissections are shown via hand-drawn sketches, which are really cool. If you've seen diagrams within biology textbooks, you have an idea of what you're in for, but the sketches they show in Vital are practically artworks. When to see them, you think to yourself "Man, the interworkings of the human body are a very beautiful thing." It's no surprise that Tsukamoto found the work of Leonardo da Vinci as a major source of inspiration. So if you're scared of gore or violence, you can easily watch this. There are a handful of scenes where the exposed body is shown, but it's portrayed like a body is typically prepared for dissection in real life. So the "gore" aspect is practically neutered here.Like many of Tsukamoto's films, Vital is a bit on the weird side and some scenes may be left to the viewer's interpretation – but that's the way this guy makes movies. You can always tell when you're watching a Tsukamoto film, even though he has made wildly different films throughout his career. Earlier in his career (late 80s and 90s) his films were very violent, but that began to change quite a bit during the late 90s. Vital is certainly one of Tsukamoto's most mellow films, but it has just as much impact as anything he's done before. This is great stuff, and a prime example of why I love this director so much.

Graham Greene Shinya Tsukamoto is a director best known for his violent, hard-hitting and heavily industrial-influenced art-dramas, such as the 1988 cult-classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man and it's somewhat poorly received 1991 follow up Tetsuo II: Body Hammer. These films are placed alongside his two contemporary masterpieces, Tokyo Fist and A Snake of June. Whereas those films were fast, furious and hyper-kinetic affairs, punctuated by grainy cinematography, punch-drunk editing and a soundtrack of jarring industrial noise, Vital finds the maverick filmmaker in a slightly more poetic and philosophical mood; creating a slow and lingering film that looks at the notions of love and loss through the eyes of a central character trying to both understand and come to terms with the death of his free-spirited former lover.As with much of Tsukamoto's work, the film is rich in visual symbolism and texture, with the opening scene disorientating us with a kaleidoscopic montage of four industrial chimney-stacks pumping smoke into an overcast sky. Later on, after enrolling in a medical course at his local college, our protagonist will witness four bodies being dissected, including, surprisingly enough, that of the central character's deceased love. This is the central arch of the story and the location where much of the film unfolds, with Tadanobu Asano's character Takagi piecing his life back together as he literally picks apart the body of his former lover and comes to terms with his own role in the loss of her life. As you can probably imagine from a story of this nature, the film is incredibly slow-moving and deliberately paced, with Tsukamoto juxtaposing the coldness of Takagi existence of continual study and cultural isolation with the rich, warm vibrancy found in that of his late girlfriend's wild and unfettered existence on an island paradise that may or may not exist only within the fragmented mind of Takagi himself.The scenes of Takagi and his fellow medical students dissecting the rotting flesh and hollowed bones of the four symmetrically positioned corpses is sympathetically handled, with the director creating a mood of unease through the use of a sickly yellow lighting filter, so that the film manages to create an air of queasiness and uncertain anxiety without having to show anything too explicit. There are further examples of Tsukamoto using the lighting and cinematography to underpin the emotions of the character within other areas of the film, for example, the scenes in which Takagi works on his studies or reminisces about the ghosts of his life, pre-accident, are bathed in a cool blue that recalls the cold and clinical cinematography of A Snake of June, which again, brings out the sense of cold alienation central to the character's life. These colour-coded motifs are further juxtaposed by the bright and vividly beautiful colours found on the island that Takagi dreams of, recreating or reliving a brief moment of transcendence with a lover he'll never again reclaim.Vital is quite an anomaly within Tsukamoto's career thus far; standing out a slower, more deliberate and more poetic work with the emphasis placed on human emotions as opposed clinical psychology. There are still the various recurring themes on display, for example, the obsession with the fragility and the limitations of the human body; something that has been explored and exploited throughout Tsukamoto's work from Tetsuo through to Tokyo Fist and beyond to Vital and A Snake of June. As I mentioned previously in this review, the pace of Vital is slow and deliberate throughout, whilst the overall tone of the film is dreamlike and filled with uncertain. Many will no doubt find it a little dull and perhaps even boring, but many others will perhaps appreciate the believable characterisations and the rich compassion and emotion that Tsukamoto brings to the script, especially when coupled with the captivating cinematography, evocative music and air of metaphysical mystery.

jzappa Vital contains a single scene of such true, deep, tearjerking, aching love that despite all of its sleepy subtleties, it is truly great cinema. This scene makes you cry and relate to it, and only one who's ever been in deep, heavy, painful love with someone can watch it and understand what I mean. It's such stirring drama in one shot lasting about 5 minutes between two people, and you want that scene to last forever. I haven't felt any kind of emotion like that from a movie in God knows how long.There isn't much else to say about this film. Somehow, Tsukamoto has made a film so powerful based on one scene that is more emotional and moving than any work I've seen in nearly a year from many much much less dry filmmakers.

timotheyido This film really surprised me as my first impressions were that it was going to be a shocking film,rather than the emotionally intricate one it turned out to be. I was pleasantly surprised by the mature way the director handled the development of his main character(Hiroshi)and was thrown by the red herrings in the script,which kept me probing for more obvious answers that would have been,in retrospect, far less fulfilling.I thought it was a film that attempted to address deep issues and feelings-loss of a loved one(from many different perspectives)and realisation of one's goals (would he have achieved his ambition had the tragedy not occurred?Would his life had as much depth?)-being only a few tackled here.I believe Tsukamoto is suggesting the mind and soul,though not necessarily in sequential time,are bound together inextricably.A beautiful piece of work.