Before We Vanish | Kiyoshi Kurosawa | NYFF 2017
There has been a great variety of Asian invasion flicks over the years but none quite as quirky as Before We Vanish, the latest from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Mainly known for his work in the Japanese horror genre, Kurosawa dabbles with science fiction here but does so with a quirky blend of tone that works both in its favor and against it. Three aliens (Ryuhei Matsuda, Mahiro Takasugi and Yuri Tsunematsu) arrive on earth ahead of a planet-wide invasion of our planet. They’re there to explain to characters like Narumi (Masami Nagasawa) and reporter Sakurai (Hiroki Hasegawa) that this is indeed happening and that they may as well go along with their plot as there’s simply no escaping it now.
Narumi is confused by the sudden odd behavior of her husband Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda) who is acting erratic and losing his memory, causing his wife Narumi plenty of confusion which soon leads her to the discovery that his body is a host of an alien and that the invasion is indeed happening. Kurosawa’s script, which was co-written alongside Sachiko Tanaka, splits between these two stories as we see how Narumi and Sakurai handle this bizarre information and the strange events that unfold hours before the full invasion finally arrives.
Kurosawa blends elements of sci-fi and even bit of horror with plenty of balls to the wall action sequences that all add up to a rather wild interesting experience. At a length 130-minutes, it is a tad bit overstuffed and you can feel the length during the moments it takes a big deep breath and slows down in-between the action. While it’s amazing how much Kurosawa juggles here and how much of it does work and maintain your interest, I couldn’t help but feel that it often bite off more than it could chew and would’ve benefited from a good edit that would’ve made the story that much tighter.
There’s plenty of action sequences that are astonishingly shot and feel like they’re out of a different genre film completely, but that’s sort of the problem. Before We Vanish has flashes of some eye-popping moments and sequences, held together by its’ talented cast, but it often felt like vignettes of another film that could’ve been and ultimately it holds it back from really succeeding wholly on its own.
Rating: 6.4/10
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