A menace from beyond the realm of the living seems to be behind the grizzly murders that are increasingly taking place in several places in Japan. A couple of detectives trying to stop this apparent epidemic started to note a pattern: most of the victims were under psychological care, and before their demise, they were claiming to have recurring nightmares where a very particular-looking man was trying to kill them.
A happy couple that feels blessed with their daughter and a life free of worries, have their world shaken when close friends of the mother share that they also have recently seen in their dreams “This Man” (as has been described in the media), and fear that their death is approaching. Is this a case of mass hysteria, or is this an omen that humanity itself has its days numbered?
I was very interested in the plot of “This Man”, the new film from Tomojiro Amano that was screened in Fantasia 2024. I was glad that I was not disappointed. While I felt that this production did not have a big budget behind it, the story was very well developed and made very good use of the special effects with the resources available.
The characters were very likable and therefore you worry a lot when you see the misfortune starts to fall on them. (Although at the beginning of the film, I felt I was about to have a diabetic coma due to so much sweetness in the marriage mentioned before). Even when the film is not gory or very graphic, some moments might make you feel uneasy and the film surprises you by showing you that anybody can die in this story. Films like these, are the ones I enjoy the most.
I liked the story behind “This Man” a lot, and it was refreshing that the movie did not take about half of the runtime dwelling in details or the characters doing TONS of detective work. We get most of the details right away and the rest is conveyed to us very smoothly shortly after. Now, I am not saying that there are a lot of nonstop action sequences, but while there are several moments of dialogues, reunions and set ups, it was very balanced with other scenes of suspense, dread, and kills.
I was surprised that this film did not take the usual route where the deaths remain almost under the radar of the public, and that some main character is blamed for the murders or at least is the main suspect for a lot of runtime. Here the crisis is known to the public almost immediately, and therefore some people take some decisions that you in the audience would probably not agree or justify.
However, there are also other moments where you get to really feel that all hope is lost, and some dubious decisions made by the characters might seem more acceptable.
Now, if I were to pick something negative about the movie, it is that the ending feels very abrupt, and I would say it is even anticlimactic. I can see that the film had two routes available to finish the story, and the director decided on the less predictable one. The route chosen I would say left us with a sense of coping, healing, and hope after being very close to the gates of hell.
It is not a bad ending at all, I liked and respected the decision. I just felt that how we got there was a little bit rushed. Could it be due to the lack of budget? Maybe the writer/director was painting himself into a corner? Hard to tell.
While the ending result might feel like an uneven mix of other plots seen on the big screen dealing with Supernatural Viral Curses (Patent Pending!), during the whole thing I was engaged, entertained, depressed, worried, and at the end, hopeful.
In the end, even with its limitations, the film managed to hit the right spots without using fake jump scares or pointless subplots of characters following clues for half the film. So it is a winner in my book.
I thought this film was based on a manga created by Kouji Megumi. However, after reading about 15 chapters, it seems the only thing in common is the antagonist known as “This man” (I didn’t get to his origin in the manga yet, but it is more like a serial killer and not a supernatural being), and the rest is completely different. So go ahead and check this film when it is available no matter if you have read that manga (that is also very good) or not.
And I will be reviewing more films doing our remote coverage, so stay tuned!
