A woman finds herself under interrogation after she confesses to the murder of her friend's child, to which she was taking care of. After confessing to pushing the girl off a bridge, the film then transitions towards a group of actors reading lines in order to create a better understanding of the incident that took place
“Domains” is screening at the
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019
“Domains” approach to it's subject matter creates some difficulty in breaking down and analyzing the technical aspects of the film. The use of a single location to tell a majority of the story as well as focusing dry and unemotional line reading with scripts in hand for the opening section of the film results in difficulty to analyze performances. There is some progression, with the actors' switching from reading off of the script to being a bit more animated without the use of script in front of them. Overall, the film's structure makes it hard to really gauge if their talents were properly utilized.
“Domains” also puts emphasis on the actors' stories by keeping outside scenes at a bare minimal, and making the production devoid of music. While this does draw the focus to it's intended content, it will test most audiences attention span and also takes away certain aspects of a film that come under critical review.
With my experience with “Domains” there is an inner cynic that feels that feels somewhat insulted by the final product being presented as is. I note this, because I feel this will be the reaction from many viewers. The film requires an extreme amount of patience, I never had to face before in a production. With my own personal tastes, I do enjoy and appreciate films that focus on a single moment from different perspectives to increase the impact of a particular moment. However, the film provides such minimal content outside of the competent narrative over a long run time, that it is hard not to feel a bit let down as a theatrical experience.
Putting the more cynical aspects aside, the concept of the film at its core is rather fascinating and I do appreciate my perspective of what passes as film and entertainment to be pushed. The idea of taking a short account of a murder and analyzing it in a way focused entirely on narrative, stripped of any other context is an interesting concept that some audiences may appreciate.
Overall “Domains” creates a unique story narrative whose worth should be determined by the individual viewer, and its unique approach should bring some adoration towards the creative vision of Natsuka Kusano.
