Customer Reviews

Vital

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The evolution of Shinya Tsukamoto from independent extremism of Tetsuo through his polished and festival acclaimed films like Gemini and A Snake of June, is an incredible phenomenon of a great talent developing right before a film fan's eyes.

Vital, at first glance is a dark and lurid tale of a brilliant young medical student suffering from amnesia after surviving a horrific car crash in which his girlfriend was killed.

After deciding to resume his studies and taking up an anatomy class in which dissection is performed on human cadavers his memories start coming back.
Hypnotized by the strange familiarity of the body before him the tale takes an unexpected twist and this film presents us with questions on the purpose of our bodies, memories and love.

Tadanobu Asano is perfectly cast in the role of the student supported by several other luminaries of current Japanese film industry.

Final revelation about the origin of body should come as no surprise to the attentive viewer but the thoughtful way in which this film deals with some very uncomfortable questions that seem to have been completely banished from the western cinema deserves a serious look even by those who might be put off by the subject matter.

I have never seen a film which completely transforms its story and subject matter from a taboo into bliss.
A cinematic experience to cherish!

amazingly weird. weirdly amazing. i don't think it's exactly "horror." it is different. and for someone who has watched a bagillion movies, watching something different is a delight.

the acting and cinematography are excellent. just don't expect it to be a straight forward story that makes complete sense at the end.

I am a big fan of the Tartan Asia Extreme videos. This one was not as scary as others, but had a lot of good psychological undertones. The main character is very interesting to watch.

i almost cried after watching this film for the first time. not because of the story so much as just the beauty of the film. its just so amazing to see how far tsukamoto has come, from the brilliant independence that was tetsuo to this, the film is just nothing short of magnificent.

the story itself is certainly much deeper than most other films from the director. it also seems a lot more personal as well, maybe it only struck a personal chord with myself. the story was very dark & surreal. each scene was directed beautifully, from start to finish, my eyes were constantly amazed by almost every frame shot.

i also enjoyed the excessive rain, an inspiring trademark i have noticed in tsukamoto as well as takashi miike. he really knows how to use it to affect your mood.

another aspect enjoyed very much was the music, very droned yet beautiful ambience reminiscent of stars of the lid & brian eno.

overall a masterpiece from tsukamoto & another wonderful addition to the world of surreal arthouse cinema. deserves far more above a 3/5 score.

I love this film. The story is beautifully constructed & the cinematography is intense. I'm a fan of Tadanobu Asano, the lead actor, he is stoic and truthful in this role. I don't consider this to be a horror film; it's more of an artistic, mystery thriller.

If "Vital" fails to find an audience, we can put the blame squarely on its marketing. When a film that can only be described as serene and introspective gets released by Tartan as part of their "Asia Extreme" series, you have to wonder what happened. I'm somewhat familiar with Shinya Tsukamoto and I've watched many of the Asian horror and suspense films that have made it to the USA over the last few years. Naturally, I was expecting something bizarre and freakish. I was about as wrong as I could possibly be.

"Vital" is a deliberately paced drama where the protagonist struggles to regain memories that he lost as the result of a car accident. He is, in essence, living in a state of suspended animation, unsure of the world around him. Needless to say, there isn't a lot of action or dialogue, not that one would expect it. The soundtrack is particularly effective in communicating the emotions and mental state that the protagonist is unable to articulate. The film lulls the viewer into a trance state, thus absorbing us into a story that isn't actually that original.

My main criticism of the film is that I felt Tsukamoto's talent was squandered. "Vital" is a very straight-forward retelling of an already familiar tale. What exactly is new here? Why don't we just watch Hitchcock's "Vertigo" again? Although the film displays beautiful craftsmanship, I don't feel that it successfully distinguishes itself from the array of similar movies, even within the realm of contemporary Asian cinema.

There are touches of Tsukamoto's unique cinematic approach. There is an absolutely amazing scene that opens the film where a row of four smokestacks shift in and out of focus, while the soundtrack presents a cacophony of aural terror. It's quite effective, although I never understood how it was connected to anything in the film. And, as I said, the soundtrack really pulls the film together and almost warrants a recommendation on its strength alone.

Overall, I can give "Vital" a limited recommendation to fans of this highly stylized contemporary Asian cinema, and to fans of slow, peaceful dramas. In that capacity, I did enjoy "Vital" quite a lot. However, there will be other viewers who can safely skip this title without too much regret. I suspect "Vital" will effect some viewers in a very personal and moving way (as certain other reviewers attest), but there will be other viewers who find the film tedious and lethargic.

I've done my best to give a sense of the tone of the film, without saying too much. My advice is to watch it if what I've described seems interesting. And again, let me emphasize that this is most definitely *not* a horror film, nor is it "extreme" in any manner. As long as you don't pay much attention to the marketing and you go in with the correct expectations, you're safe.

"Vital" is not an easy film to enjoy. The pace is decidedly slow. The story is dense and obfuscated. The subject matter is bleak. A good question to ask yourself before viewing it is, can you find a love story in an autopsy?

But then, director Shinya Tsukamoto is not known for his films being easy to enjoy. "Tetsuo, The Iron Man" and "A Snake in June" are probably his two best know films in the West, and they are far more Art House than entertainment. While "Vital" is much more mainstream than either of those, it still retains his specific touch and is a challenging work. It is not going to be for everyone.

In the story, Hiroshi (played by Tadanobu Asano, best known as the masochistic murderer Kakihara in "Ichi the Killer") is recovering from a car accident which robbed him of his memory. While battling with splinters of memory that burst randomly into his present, he works his way through medical school, dissecting corpses as part of his training. It soon becomes clear that the corpse he is practicing on is the dead body of his former love who died in the same car crash that cost him his memory.

"Vital" is hardly a love story, nor a horror story, nor even a psychological drama. It is a film that is impossible to categorize, other than by saying it is a Tsukamoto movie. I enjoyed it, but the people I watched it with did not. The pacing and subtlety are almost Ozu-esque, and can require more patience than many people are willing to give to a modern film. But if you are willing to take the time to read between the lines, it is a rewarding experience.

Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2004)

Shinya Tsukamoto began his career by quickly becoming, as All-Movie Guide calls him, "the master of body horror" with Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its sequel Bodyhammer. He got away from that relatively quickly, though, and starting in the late nineties, Tsukamoto turned his talent to deep, slow-paced psychological dramas. Vital continues on in that tradition, and when you get Shinya Tsukamoto behind the camera and Tadanobu Asano in front of it, you're pretty much guaranteed a winner.

Asano (The Last Life in the Universe) plays Hiroshi Takagi, a man who, on the death of his girlfriend Ryoko, suffers a major psychotic break. When he recovers, he slowly begins to pick up the pieces of his life, including returning to medical school. Once his dissection class begins, he becomes convinced that the body on his table is that of his girlfriend. He becomes more and more obsessed with the idea, drawing her father (Kill Bill's Jun Kunimura) into his fantasies (or are they?).

It's a Shinya Tsukamoto film, so you can count on it being shot dark. I mean, really dark. David Fincher dreams of making a movie with as little light in it as Shinya Tsukamoto's. Asano spends most of his time glowering, as usual, and uttering aphorisms with as little emotion as possible. If you're looking for an Asian version of Clint Eastwood, look no further, though Asano is (obviously) a touch more adventurous in his choice of roles.

There's really nothing bad I can say about this movie. If you're a Tsukamoto fan, it's a must; if you haven't yet discovered the man's work, this is an excellent starting point. ****

I saw this at the Toronto film festival over a year ago, and most of the audience was fighting to stay awake, even those who later published glowing reviews about it. Vital is terrible. I propped my eyelids open, because I really wanted it to be great, and was waiting in vain for Vital to redeem itself. I have seen every Tsukamoto film, and I love and own a copy of each of his works, except this one-- intentionally. I find his work amazing despite the arc of decline in quality, which defines his directing career. Vital is his current worst. Despite how boring it is (two hours of a confused, nearly mute Tadanobu Asano and scalpel scraping), some of the cinematography is beautiful. Be warned that this very similar to another terrible psycho-memory drama by David Cronenberg called "Spider." Vital could be considered the Japanese version of Spider, or Spider the Canadian-Irish version of Vital: Pretty pictures, a wisp of a story that is continually misremembered or confused, and main characters mumbling incoherently for two hours in primary colored rooms.

Back in the 90's Shinya Tsukamoto burst onto the scene with the explosive Tetsuo the Iron Man and the riveting study of ultraviolence Tokyo Fist.Over the years his films have become more coherant but also less interesting.Vital retains a little of his visual energy though unfortunately the story about a man with amnesia who discovers he's dissecting his lost love at a college isn't very compelling.There are some nice dream sequences but the film lacks the energy and sheer creative force of Tsukamoto's earlier films.