The film centres on a young, precocious neuroscientist, Tomohiko Kataoka (Daigo Nishihata), who visits a secluded island to become part of a research team exploring the links between the mind and virtual reality. Tomohiko receives intermittent apparitions of the dead woman haunting the island and its inhabitants. The apparitions manifest within their virtual reality experiments as if the vengeful ghost has found a pathway through this man-made medium.
The style is no different from THE GRUDGE series, where the ghost of the brutally departed victim seeks revenge, but this time around, the attacks happen within an imagined reality. Or do they? The supernatural meets the futuristic world as a plotline is new territory for Shimizu as he marries the unpredictability of both.
The film’s highlight happens in the sea, and the experience of drowning is virtually experienced within the confines of a lab. That could be the most original this horror instalment gets as most elements remain faithful to the scare tactics of the previous GRUDGE movies. It is a novel premise on its own, although the murky waters of genre blending extend the audience’s experience of reality itself.
Bonjour! It was quite a pleasure for me seeing all these new French films at the recent French film festival in Sydney. I have listed my favourites, all highly recommended viewing. Watch them when you get the chance!
Not much is known about famed Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s wife, Antonina Miliukova. Wikipedia summarises her in Tchaikovsky’s biography with just a few statements, stating that their marriage in 1877 was “a disaster” and they were “mismatched psychologically and sexually” and only lived together for six weeks before Tchaikovsky left her, as he was emotionally agitated and suffered “from acute writer’s block.” Their separation forced Tchaikovsky to confront the truth about his sexuality with the support of his family. Ultimately, he “never blamed Antonina for the failure of their marriage.”
