Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Fear of Missing Out (2021) by Akira Kawachi

"Your Korean has gotten a lot better"

Part of the 2020 selection of Pia Film Festival, “” implements an experimental approach to comment on the concepts of suicide and loss.

“Fear of Missing Out” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

Yujin has come across a recorded voice message left behind by Song, a friend from high school, before she committed suicide. Inside the car of a friend, Kou, she starts discussing about the impact the message had to her, eventually asking him to get her to a temple where a medium could possibly allow her to communicate with the deceased once more. The discussion is “interrupted” by scenes showing the recorder while Song’s voice narrates her last thoughts, and ones of reenactment of what is heard, with the one regarding her husband, a policeman who also committed suicide after shooting a suspect, being the most impactful. A number of panoramic shots of the road, the arrival at the temple during the night and the morning meeting with the medium conclude the 36-minute short.

Presented mostly in night or rather dark shots that occasionally are quite hard to discern, ‘s effort showcases his video-art background, through a film that focuses more on its atmosphere rather than its context. In that fashion, the plethora of vignettes that comprise the narrative are quite impressive on occasion, with the policeman sequence, that seems to imply that he started considering that the man he killed was also someone’s son, the panoramic ones, and the flicking ones that show the deceased girl being the most memorable. Furthermore, the message communicated by the overall approach, regarding despair and the sense of loss that dominates those that are left behind, is quite eloquent in its presentation, with the darkness (both literal and metaphorical) that characterizes the short working quite well in that regard. The day scenes, which could also be perceived as a moment of hope as the light finally enters the equation, provide a much needed relief, while concluding the movie in a way that leads to a catharsis, although this aspect remains somewhat vague, and could have been handled a bit better.

Where the film fails significantly, however, is the sound, with the voices being of bad quality, something that becomes particularly annoying during the dialogue scenes. The whisper of the recording, on the other hand, suits the overall atmosphere, actually adding to it, with the same applying to Kawachi’s sloe-paced editing, but in general, some improvement in the technical aspects of the movie would be rather welcome.

Since the acting mostly comprises of discussions and narration, it is difficult to comment upon. However, as Yu-jin and as Song voice-acting is top notch, while the former’s chemistry with ‘s Kou is rather evident.

“Fear of Missing Out” is an interesting film, particularly due to its unusual approach, but Kawachi definitely needs to improve on the technical aspects of his filmmaking if he wants to move to the next level.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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