Shudder Saturday: Re: Born (2016)

I started thinking about the plot when writing this review of Re: Born and then quickly gave up on that idea. There IS a plot, it's there and it sort of makes sense (I think), but it's just there to service the many frenetic fight sequences. This is an action film with the emphasise on momentum and violence, so let's not pretend otherwise here.

Here's all the plot I am going to give you. Toshiro (Tak Sakaguchi) is a former special ops soldier, AKA Ghost, and a number of bad people want to upset his new, peaceful life. That covers it.

Directed by Yûji Shimomura, Re: Born is a star vehicle for Sakaguchi, who helped to write the story with Benio Saeki (I say story because there isn't much dialogue here, unless you count the swish of blades, the grunts of pain, and the spurts of blood). Which means this all stands or falls on the strength of Sakaguchi's performance. Never fear, he's more than up to the task. The man is a talented physical performer, believable as someone who can stare at a shooter and walk towards them intently, ducking just as the trigger is squeezed to avoid any bullets. And just when you think he can't pull off any more incredible moves, he goes and pulls off some more incredible moves.

The action here is impressive, speedy, and unforgiving to anyone involved. Although there are a few guns, the aforementioned skillsets of Ghost renders them quite useless. That means you get people forced to approach an enemy who is just as quick and savage in close quarters as he is when given time to plan his attack. With his precision and ruthlessness, and his blades flashing and whirring around, Sakaguchi could win any major round of Robot Wars, never mind slicing and killing his way through the crowds of ill-equipped soldiers who try to take him down. But it's worth mentioning that, for all of the speed and viciousness on display here, the action is always pretty easy to flow, it's shot well, moving in and out of the fighting smoothly enough. There are times when things are inevitably a little too busy, but they are few and far between, and action movie fans will be delighted by most of the main set-pieces here. And they are plentiful.

It's hard to rate the performances of anyone onscreen here, unless we do it in terms of their killing efficiency. If we do it that way then Sakaguchi is right at the very top, of course, but then that would put young Yura Kondo (who plays his niece, Sachi) at the very bottom, which isn't fair. Mind you, it would also put Mariko Shinoda, playing a deadly character named Newt, close to the top, and that IS fair. So let's just bundle these three together for some praise, rating them in terms that either relate to their deadly skills or, in the case of Kondo, relate to them just being sweet and vulnerable.

While not quite as good as some other modern action movies that have been namechecked by people who rate this one in the very top tier, Re: Born is a hugely entertaining exercise in graceful brutality, and anyone with even a passing interest in fight scenes that pack a bit more wallop should rush to check it out.

8/10

You can buy the movie here.

Actual "trivia" from the IMDb page for Re-Born

Prime Time: Tag (2015)

Not to be confused with the American comedy of the same name, Tag is a Sion Sono movie that is as typically mad as a Sion Sono movie can be. It has at least one very interesting idea at the heart of it all, and the wild set-pieces hold your interest, but this is a film that I fractured viewing experience that I can easily see people disliking, despite the fact that I really enjoyed it.

Things start with a clip that many people will already have seen, even if they're unaware of the fact that it's from this movie. Mitsuko (Reina Triendl) is just one of many schoolgirls sitting in a coach as it travels along a road. The atmosphere is calm and dreamy. Mitsuko bends down to pick up her dropped writing implement, and that is when an invisible force cuts the entire bus in half, having just done the same to the bus just ahead. There's metal and bisected bodies everywhere, and Mitsuko is understandably shocked as she tries to figure out what happened. While escaping the carnage, the force seems to follow her, taking out other people while Mitsuko does her best to avoid it. She then gets to her school, where more strangeness occurs. She is then a bride (and has the name Keiko, and is played by Mariko Shinoda). More strangeness occurs. She is then a runner in a marathon (Izumi, played by Erina Mano). Something dangerous seems to be pursuing every one of her identities, even as she tries to figure out what is going on and just who she really is.

Based on a short story by Yûsuke Yamada, Sion Sono wrote and directed this with his usual mix of slick visuals and unflinching approach to more extreme moments. The gore is infrequent, but it's a huge bloody mess when you see it (and you do get to see it), the madness stops completely when characters get together to discuss some of the ideas being proposed as explanations for the strange events, and there's a transition between each main segment that allows viewers to clearly see the lead changing identities. The whole film does a great job of mixing the perplexing, the disorentating, and the more grounded moments. It may be a head-scratching viewing experience, at times, but that's only keeping viewers close alongside Mitsuko/Keiko/Izumi as she tries to figure everything out.

Triendl does well in her role, as do both Shinoda and Mano, but it's worth singling out Yuki Sakurai for some special praise. She plays Aki, a girl who is always there as a friend to the main character. But sometimes Aki seems oblivious to what is about to unfold, and sometimes she seems to know a lot more than our lead. Whatever her sense of the situation, Sakurai plays her perfectly throughout every main sequence.

Although it feels very much like a throwaway film, any attempt to add some logic comes along too late and I'm still not sure it really makes any sense, I still had a blast with Tag. It ultimately didn't matter to me how things ended anyway, as I was enjoying thinking about the various possible explanations that might have been used. I recommend this, even though many may view it as a lesser Sono flick.

8/10

You can buy the movie here.