Although in terms of series, Netflix is doing a nice enough job regarding its Japanese content, the same does not apply with the movies, and particularly the anime/manga adaptations, with titles like “Bleach” and “Full Metal Alchemist” being mediocre, to say the least. Unfortunately, the same applies to the adaptation of Hideo Yamamoto’s homonymous manga, which seems to suffer both from terms of writing and direction.
The story revolves around Susumu Nokoshi, a 34-year-old man who once worked for a top foreign company, but now finds himself hopeless, hanging around a park in Shinjuku with others who share the same fate. One fateful night, he meets medical student Manabu Ito, who is eventually revealed to be the owner’s son, who also happens to be looking for volunteers to undergo a surgical procedure known as trepanation, essentially having a hole drilled in their skull that can potentially unleash the brain’s restricted potential. Nokoshi is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees to the procedure for 700,000 yen. After the surgery, he realizes that when he closes his right eye, he can see people in a distorted, manga-like prism that usually has something to do with their inner thoughts and memories. Nokoshi starts communicating with people, in order to save them. Or something like that.
Two things work for the movie. The relationship between Manabu and Susumu, which has this Dr. Frankenstein essence in the way the former manipulates the latter, only to find himself out of his depth eventually. The second is the performance of Go Ayano, who gives a great performance in a badly-written role, essentially carrying almost every good aspect of the movie on his shoulders. From a man who has given up, to one stupefied by what he is watching, to the disillusioned and courageous one, every aspect of his character are presented with gusto. His highlight, the scene where he begins appraising (in money value) one of his homeless “comrades” is probably the most memorable here, also for its contextual value.
Apart from this however, the rest of the narrative is a mesh, in another effort to condense a full manga title (of 15 volumes) into an almost 2-hour movie, which, inevitably fails. One would think that, after so many failed efforts, the practice would have found some ways to work around the issues such a task entails, but it seems Japanese cinema keeps making the same mistakes in that regard. In that fashion, the episodes are rushed and emerge as disconnected, more like a collage of visually impressive but with very little context scenes. This approach also faults the characters, as it makes it rather difficult for the viewer to empathize with them, despite the fact that the script essentially focuses on the reasons they act the way they do.
The robot-yakuza, the sand-girl, and eventually, the two protagonists’ inner selves seem more like gags than anything else, maybe with the exception of the moment where Susumu harms himself in front of the mirror, in one of the few memorable scenes of the movie. Furthermore, the concept of closing one eye to see people’s inner selves is visually dull, essentially emerging as a childish practice, despite Ayano and Shimizu’s efforts (the latter through music and VFX) to make it seem as something intriguing. Lastly, the eventual melodrama that takes over almost every episode decreases the quality of the narrative even more, the flashbacks seem completely out of place, the comments about identity and the way past traumas shape people are pedantic almost, while the rape-like scene emerges as one of the worst in the movie, and not just for the despicability of the act.
Visually, on the other hand, the movie is rather impressive, boasting its big budget. Jun Fukumoto’s cinematography creates a techno-noir atmosphere filled with intense colors, while the SFX, particularly in the metamorphoses of the various people Susumu meets are rather well done, in terms of both imagery and movement. The blood that accompanies many of the violent scenes, including the trepanation procedure, does not seem real, but is still imposing, resonating perfectly with the rest of the visuals.
“Homunculus” has some good points, but Takashi Shimizu is definitely past his prime, the adaptation is faulty once more, and the SFX and Go Ayano are not enough to salvage a movie that ends up aggressively mediocre.
No mention of the horrible rape scene with the “sandgirl” who’s a high-school teenager?
I don’t know what to say about this scene, which seemed to me both disturbing and badly shot, so I left it out