Meldow_ Reviews

One Piece: The Movie (2000)

A film without any ideas of its own

[5/10 · 18 September 2023]

(This review contains spoilers!!!)

The first movie of One Piece has no fresh story. It sort of takes the prologue story of One Piece ("Wealth, Power and Glory...." We all know it) and just rewrites it a little. There was once a pirate named Woonan who was called - surprise - Gold Pirate. He stole stolen gold from pirates together and eventually had a huge treasure. Then he hid it on an island. To find this treasure, there is a treasure map, which coincidentally reminds us of the Road Porneglyphs. There is also a little boy named Tobio whose biggest dream is to find the treasure (comparable to Luffy), and his grandfather Ganzo knew Woonan (comparable to Garp). This story has many parallels to the real One Piece story, even more so from today's perspective.

The film is now by and large a simple treasure hunt story. With an island, treasure map, riddle and an antagonist who is also looking for the treasure. The riddle is on the treasure map and is super trivial. Apparently, not even minimal effort has been made here. By the way, the main antagonist is El Drago. He has eaten from a Devil Fruit (the name of this is never mentioned). The power of this Devil Fruit seems very One Piece untypical and fits more to Dragon Ball (he can shoot such a Kamehameha out of his mouth). Of course, so that Zoro also has an opponent, El Drago has a swordsman named Golass as a sidekick. Both the fight against El Drago and Golass are pretty boring.

At least the comedy aspect of the film is convincing. The comedy gives the movie a bit of that old One Piece feel. Ruffy is stupid, Nami yells around, Usopp lies for his life, and Zoro is typically cool on it. However, I feel like the writers of the movie simplified the consistency of One Piece to just comedy and stretched it to the max. There are some very over-the-top jokes that don't fit even for the old One Piece. For example when Ruffy asks Ganzo if he died and even repeats that. Yes Ruffy is the typical stupid Shonen protagonist, but he's also not that stupid. The old One Piece, besides the comedy, also makes up for a sense of adventure with, or rather through, an unknown island. The island here, however, remains uninteresting. No inhabitants, no special animals, nothing.

In the end, the film should have been made longer and embellished more. So even for huge One Piece fans (like me) there is no real reason to watch this movie and even less for basic viewers. At the same time, the film is not really bad, but simply sinks into insignificance without bringing its own ideas to the franchise. Too bad.

Blue Lock (2022– )

A fresh coat with many problems

[6/10 · 26 March 2023]

Blue Lock is a sports anime that takes a very new and unique approach. Normally, you follow a team, which wants to fight its way to the top and thereby bond together as a team. The team inevitably has to learn that teamwork is important and that together you can do anything. But not so in Blue Lock. Here, it's all about pure ego. The animal in every striker that will go over dead bodies for its own goal and triumph over others. It's about the ecstasy of victory, about every goal you fight for yourself. In this way, Blue Lock is a complete antithesis to the established sports anime formula. But can it work at all?

Japan sucks at soccer. Not my words. And that's why it was decided to create a project, something that would help Japan gain a presence in global soccer. That's Blue Lock. But what is the Japanese team missing. The answer is: a striker. Japan is good at defense, but to win you need good strikers. Blue Lock is a project in which the best strikers from all over Japan specifically compete against each other with the goal of creating an ultimate striker. The principle is a typical battle royal. Teams fight against each other, the losers get kicked out and in the end there should be only one left at the top.

The series takes a very mathematical approach to soccer. To this end, a new rule is introduced match after match. First, each striker is supposed to find his weapon. Weapons are skills like analytical thinking, strong physical strength, fast sprinting or high jumping power. Once you have found them, you are supposed to refine them, learn how to use them in the right situations and create a formula for scoring a goal. Little by little, more and more rules are introduced. Isagi, our protagonist, learns these with us. He has to understand what makes a real striker over the course of the series and from match to match. Isagi starts cliché-like at the bottom. In Blue Lock, all strikers are ranked and then assigned to teams. The worst players are put in the worst team, the best in the best team. Isagi, of course, is assigned to Team Z, the lowest team, and as if that weren't enough, he is second to last on the ranking list. The matches actually always follow the same formula. The opposing team is insurmountably strong, Isagi despairs, he understands what is wrong with him or the team, learns this during the match and then wins in the best case. This formula is really repeated every match. Despite this, the matches are really exciting and - may sound confusing now - diversified.

There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, each character has its own weapon or rather superpower. And so the opponents always come with new superpowers. These weapons are presented in such an extreme way that they rob the series of any realism. These weapons are superpowers, there's no denying that. Whether you like it or not is a matter of taste. In the world of anime, I always like such an approach. But if you are looking for a realistic soccer anime, you are really wrong here.

The second reason for variety are the characters. However, they are not special, because they follow the simple clichés. The sympathetic friend, the cool one with white hair, the aggressive one who hates everyone, the fearful yet strong one and so on. The series is full of them and if you've watched it, you know exactly who I just meant with the descriptions. Isagi himself is probably one of the weakest characters. He has a big problem, but to understand that, I have to go further.

First, we need to understand how the series explains things. Namely, in the simplest way possible when it comes to storytelling. With pure exposition dumping. Simply translated, exposition is as much as explanation. This is often found at the beginning of a narrative. This is where the situation, the world, the characters, the rules and so on are explained to the audience. This can be done cleverly or badly, and Blue Lock does it - well - pretty badly. The smartest way of exposition is showing. Instead of long mono/dialogues, rules or situation are simply shown. This shows skill at storytelling and at the same time doesn't think the viewer is stupid. Accordingly, the simplest way is the opposite. Long dialogues between characters or monologues in the form of thoughts. Blue Lock uses the latter. Namely, monologues that Isagi conducts in his head with himself. I don't think much of this kind of exposition. There is no cleverness in it, and at the same time it takes the audience for fools.

And now we come back to Isagi. We hear his thoughts incessantly. How he thinks, despairs or rejoices. But despite this intimate insight, Isagi remains "empty". We don't get a picture of his character. He remains a blueprint of a main character without his own personality. Without corners and edges. This makes sure that you don't sympathize with him. As a viewer, you don't care about him. He is almost a means to an end called exposition. But I learned to love other characters. My favorites are Nagi and Bachira. But again, they are typical anime side characters. Just the cool sidekicks. Still, I learn a lot more about them than I do about Isagi. What is their past? Where does their love for sports come from? What is their goal? Isagi, on the other hand, remains just an empty figure that you're supposed to empathize with. Similar to Link from the game "The Legend of Zelda". But that doesn't work as well as with Link, because you don't play Isagi yourself.

Now let's get back to something positive. Namely the art. The studio "8bit" knows how to make a lot out of a little. The animation alone is only average to quite good. A lot of still images or GIFs (i.e. Loops) are used. Also, scenes that show the course of the game from a bird's eye view are always animated with CGI. This CGI is very noticeable and distracting. However, the images in reverse are beautifully drawn. The artstyle is excellent and retouches the little animation. Animation is not everything and you can get a lot out of little. A good studio knows how. And 8bit knows how. In general, the visuals of Blue Lock are excellent as a result. The background music is also great. The rock and hip-hop heavy tracks hype well. Also, all the openings and endings are bangers.

Conclusion: In general, Blue Lock is a fun soccer anime with many problems. It turns the established formula around and focuses on ego instead of teamwork. The matches are exciting and varied in themselves. Still, the storytelling is weak. The mangaka follows a formula that repeats itself every match. He also uses a lot of exposition dumping and the protagonist remains an empty shell. The presentation, artistically and musically, is fabulous in return. However, the series follows so many anime clichés that it's no wonder the anime is such a success. It uses exaggerated superpowers and is extremely action packed. If you want an exciting and typical anime experience, this is recommended, even if you're not a soccer fan (I am not either). If anime has always been too over the top for you, then this isn't for you either. Despite everything, I had fun with this one and look forward to the second season.

Thanks for reading.

The Fire Hunter (2023– )

THE surprise title of the anime winter season.

[8/10 · 22 March 2023]

"The Fire Hunter" is a title I expected nothing from. The official trailer is so forgettable and meaningless that I almost didn't watch the anime. Luckily I did, because otherwise I would have missed out on arguably one of the best titles of the anime winter season.

The Fire Hunter is set in a future where people's bodies have changed so that when they come in contact with fire, their bodies themselves burst into flames. This set humanity far behind in terms of its development until an alternative fuel was discovered, derived from the blood of fire demons. The Fire Hunter's task is to hunt such fire demons and "harvest" their blood. Now humanity has once again arrived at the stage of industrialization. In this world, our protagonist Tokou lives in a small village. She is in the forest without permission, where she encounters a Fire Demon. However, she is saved by a Fire Hunter. Each Fire Hunter is accompanied by a dog for support. The Fire Hunter dies during the rescue, but his dog Kanata survives. Tokou, as punishment for being in the forest, is given the task of taking the dog to the capital to the deceased Fire Hunter's relatives.

The Fire Hunter or, as it is called in Japanese, "Hikari no Ou" is an anime adaptation of the novel of the same name. As in other novels, The Fire Hunter tells a parallel story with a second protagonist. It is about Koushi, who lives in the capital. His sister is seriously ill and his father has died. Because of this, they come to live with Yuoshichi, who does not act without ulterior motives. To what extent these two storylines come together, you'll have to figure out for yourself.

The enchanting story, which is nevertheless based on our world, gives you the feeling of a Ghibli studio story. It has a very deep and mysterious lore. This is revealed piece by piece and explains the present at the same time. This is how lore should be presented. The lore is about gods, demons and intrigue.

I watched the first episode without expectation on 14.1.2023. And left with a huge satisfaction from this. Of course I found the world interesting, but what animated me much more to continue watching was - well - the animation. Or rather the artstyle. I have great respect for what the studio "Signal. MD" has done here and will keep an eye on them in the future. The artstyle is very artistic and thus unfortunately a blessing and a curse in one. Many scenes look simply fabulous because of the artstyle, but in fight scenes the animation often doesn't know how to handle the artstyle, making many (not all) fight scenes look cheap, almost ugly. In other scenes, you can't help but be amazed. An up and down, which doesn't please everyone. But that's not all with the special animation style of The Fire Hunter. The anime uses stills inserted in the right places. Seems perhaps at first inappropriate for an anime, but these show again the artistic vein of the anime. For these stills are colorful oil paintings (don't nail me down on the term oil painting). They are really beautiful and enhance particularly emotional moments or moments that are special for other reasons. Again, this style choice is a matter of taste and won't appeal to everyone. As a third, special stylistic device, the anime uses images within images, almost like panels in manga. To explain: for example, the main image shows an entire large room in long shot, and to the left or right of the image appears another image in which the actual action takes place. Such moments can be found again and again in The Fire Hunter. All of this shows how well-designed The Fire Hunter is in terms of staging, and this artistic design in general really stood out to me.

Conclusion: The Fire Hunter makes for a super fascinating world. It is set in our future and yet it has a lore about gods and demons that is told in a clever way. The story can't quite unfold yet in terms of content due to the shortness of the anime with only ten episodes, but it promises great things. If you want to take a look at the anime, I recommend watching the opening instead of the trailer. Here the beautiful artstyle comes into its own. If the story or lore don't convince you, it should be the artstyle that everyone should have experienced once. It can be seen that the anime probably had some problems in release. But still, it is definitely recommended and should receive much more attention.

Thanks for reading.

Vinland Saga (2019–2023)

No clumsy war anime, but surprisingly profound

[10/10 · 1 March 2023]

(This review contains spoilers!!!) Vinland Saga is, at its core, a revenge story. It deals with a young boy who lives only driven by revenge. This boy is our protagonist Thorfinn, and his father Thors was killed by a Viking, namely Askeladd. Thors was a very noble warrior. His son Thorfinn takes over this characteristic. He wants to defeat Askeladd in a fair duel. But to get this duel, he has to fight as Askeladd's subordinate at his side. Thus, Thorfinn experiences war at an early age. The series sometimes asks the question: what happens to such a young boy in war? The anime deals with the battles between the English and the Danes around 1000 AD. Our Thorfinn fights as Askeladd's subordinate on the side of the Danes.

The anime is designed very realistically. Each character acts in a comprehensible way. The arstyle and character design are also very realistic. The battles are well animated and CGI is used sparingly and appropriately. It is never distracting. There is no holding back in the depiction of violence. Blood flows in masses and body parts fly as well. This is exactly how a historical anime must be portrayed. Unfortunately, the synchro is very bad. I don't mean the acting, that's great, but that everyone speaks in Japanese and pretends not to understand each other.

Slavery was everyday life at that time. Thus, slavery is also thematized in the anime. You see some slaves, but the anime does not deal with their lives. The anime grasps the topic larger and relates it to Thorfinn. Thus, each person is a slave in his own sense. Thorfinn, for example, is a slave of revenge.

One of the biggest themes in Vinland Saga is religion. In the anime, different cultures and religions come together. Among them is Christianity, of course, but the Vikings believed in their own Norse mythology. Religion determines how people act. The Vikings are a warrior people and this is reflected in their religion. Their idea of paradise is Valhalla, which you can only get to if you die as a warrior in battle. In both religions there is also an idea of the end of the earth. Christianity calls it the Last Judgment and for the Vikings it is Ragnarok. At the same time, the anime opens the dawn as a sign of the turning point. Vinland Saga takes place precisely during such a turning point. In the present there is war, but people believe in a soon redemption and improvement of the conditions, by God or whoever. But they wait in vain for this redemption or salvation. From this, the anime develops a critique of the gods, which shows itself most strongly in Prince Canute.

Prince Canute is, in my opinion, the most interesting character from Vinland Saga. At the beginning, he is a very shy person who is not fit to be the prince of the Danes. Nevertheless, the people expect strength from him and his father, the king, is disappointed. Canute is a strong Christian. In war he prays to God and hopes not to die. But when Ragnar died, he realizes that God does not help him. As an act of defiance, he rebels against God and wants to create a paradise on earth. "We don't need a kingdom of heaven and trials. Our paradise is on earth," Canute says. This development is good and important for Vinland Saga. But it is too rushed and therefore seems unbelievable. On the other hand, Canute is also a pacifist.

Vinland Saga is generally pacifistic. The anime deals with this theme in several ways. On the one hand, the depiction of violence is pure pacifism. There are regular montages of corpses and Thorfinn's development shows what war can make of you. Namely, a callous murderer who will go over dead bodies for his own goals. On the other hand, the anime combines pacifism with criticism of the gods. According to Willibald, humans are sinful by nature. Their ancestors, Adam and Eve, did not listen to God and were banished from paradise as a result. Analogous to this narrative, one sees a bitten-off apple lying on the ground, clearly an allusion to the apple in paradise. This is the idea of original sin from Christianity. Willibald continues that human cannot love but only prefer. According to him, human's death, as well as nature and heaven, are love. If we are dead, we become a part of nature. These words of Willibald made Canute understand. God will not help them and he himself must end the war and create a paradise. For this he wants to overthrow the king. Through Askeladd's sacrifice he succeeds. So Thorfinn does not get his revenge and thus the circle is closed. The anime ends with Thorfinn dropping his knife. In the reflection of the knife, the first season passes by as a montage. With this, Thorfinn gives up his revenge, so to speak, because a true warrior does not need a sword.

Vinland Saga is, all in all, a great anime and deals with profound themes that are appropriate for the time. At the same time, the battles are fun to watch, partly because Wit Studio's animation is very well done. Overall, it's a very realistic and adult anime and a must watch title.

Thanks for reading.

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023– )

Junji Ito's manga can't be animated well!

[4/10 · 1 March 2023]

Of course, the genre of horror in the medium of anime has always had a hard time. It's hard to trigger horror in the consumer with drawn pictures and animations. Horror in anime very quickly looks like trash. That's why you should focus on atmosphere and shock the consumer. And that's exactly what Junji Ito's manga do perfectly. And that's exactly what the anime fails at.

Junji Ito is a masterful horror mangaka and arguably the best in the industry. He is well aware of the weaknesses of the manga medium when it comes to horror, yet he executes the genre perfectly. In each story he builds an oppressive atmosphere and manages to shock the reader at just the right moment. For this Junji Ito uses very detailed images. He draws on individual panels sometimes for hours. He also uses a simple and well-known trick of the manga industry. He puts the shocking pictures at the beginning of the double page. So this image jumps in your face when you turn the page, because when you read a manga, you always see the other images already in the corner of your eye. Only when you turn a page, you don't know what's coming. And it is exactly this effect that Junji Ito makes use of. Furthermore, Junji Ito addresses certain phobias in most short stories, including, for example, trypophobia (the fear of irregularly arranged holes), claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces) or hypnophobia (the fear of falling asleep). He wraps these up in mostly crazy and loopy stories. Junji Ito's manga works are simply great.

The anime is unfortunately just a poor adaptation of the whole thing. It lacks everything that makes the manga so good. The most obvious are the simply drawn pictures and the mediocre animation. Unlike the manga, the anime can't boast of rich detail. As a result, the shockers are absent. No images that cause discomfort or nausea, no images that shock with an exaggerated depiction of violence, and no images that trigger phobias. On top of that, a quickly produced animation. When watching the anime, pay attention to the eyes. Often the iris and pupil are unintentionally missing and only the white sclera of the eyes can be seen. The anime just barely manages to create an oppressive atmosphere, but you probably can't call it horror. Of course, the stories are taken from the manga. But these are just so poorly implemented that I kept asking myself how good these images must look in the manga.

On a positive note, I want to mention the music, especially the opening and ending. The opening "Paranoid" by MADKID is super fitting to the anime. The rocking screaming and the visuals reflect the weirdness of Junji Ito's stories. The ending, on the other hand, is more relaxed and I really like it as a standalone song.

Now follows a brief commentary on each short story of the anime. There might be some slight spoilers: "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings" - Ends somewhere in the middle and horror is left out.

"The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel" - Atmosphere was poorly built up.

"Ice Cream Bus" - prime example of "must be gross in manga" and CGI was distracting.

"Hanging Balloon" - a good adaptation "Four x Four walls" - zero atmosphere. Where's the horror? I don't want a slice of life.

"The Sandman's Lair" - Here we have our hypnophobia, but fear of sleep doesn't come up.

"Intruder" - epitome of saying nothing.

"Long Hair in the Attic" - Super story, but does not dare to show shocking violence. The images lack detail.

"Mold" - Triggers zero nausea. The pictures are too flatly drawn for a black and white format.

"Libary Vision" - Beautiful story of a man slowly going insane. But the fact that the woman doesn't act and just watches is super unbelievable. (Her synchro is not good either. But that's by the way.)

"Tomb Town" - Why doesn't the corpse in the trunk stink. But nice world Junji Ito creates there. The images lack depth again.

"Layers of Terror" - Again, the images lack detail. The story is nice and crazy. But you should reach for the manga here as well.

"The Thing that Drifted Ashore" - CGI, CGI, CGI.

"Tomie Photo" - I love the Tomie stories. I love the mystery around her and the charisma of Tomie. I didn't get either of those. Also, the depiction of violence is again too lax.

"The Unendurable Labyrinth" - Poor build up of atmosphere. You can guess the rest, right?

"The Bully" - one of the better implementations.

"Alley" - quite cool, not special "The Headless Sculptures" - Must repeat myself: bad pictures, nice crazy story "Whispering Woman" - The whispering woman was depicted creepy. Enjoyed it.

"Soichi's Beloved Pet" - I guess the worst comes at the end

If you don't know the manga, you can probably have fun with the anime. If you liked Junji Ito Maniac, you have to check out the manga, and if you didn't, then also. There are 2-3 good adaptations here, but all the stories lack the visuals. That's just what makes Junji Ito. You're disgusted and don't want to read any further, and yet the next night you're sitting down to the next story. Junji Ito stands and falls on the images, if you do not get that right, no anime will ever adapt Junji Ito well. I hope the Uzumaki anime gets that right. The trailers looked promising. Apparently they recognized the problems and tried to adapt the manga style. Still, I stand by my initial thesis: "Junji Ito's manga can't be animated well!" At the same time, I don't necessarily mean to say that it can't be done. It will probably just never happen, unfortunately. A good Junji Ito anime needs two things: time and money. I can't imagine that any producer would put so much money into a niche project like Junji Ito and give the studios enough time than something clever would come out of it. Please let me be wrong. The future will tell.

Thanks for reading.

Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanzawa (2022–2023)

A beautiful parody of the original

[8/10 · 1 March 2023]

First, let me explain my camp. The original Detective Conan is THE series of my childhood (besides with One Piece), and to this day is one of my favorites of the medium (as is readily apparent). Detective Conan is a masterpiece for me and ever since I heard about an anime adaptation of the manga "Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanazawa" coming out, I've been hyped.

The anime is a parody of Detective Conan through and through and never takes itself too seriously. This is evident right from the opening "Tsukamaete, Konya." Our protagonist Hanazawa doesn't dance in the opening by accident. The entire dance, as well as Hanazawa's final pose, is a parody of Detective Conan's eighth opening, "Koi wa Suriru, Shokku, Sasupensu." And the series is also full of such self-referential parodies. For example, the anime addresses the question of what it's like for the citizens of Beika to live in such a district with so many murders. Also, the character design of Ran Mori or Hanazawa are obvious parodies. But that's all I want to anticipate in this review.

To watch this spin-off, you should know Detective Conan, otherwise almost all the jokes won't work. But that's exactly what I like about this spin-off. It's precisely because this series is so self-referential that the spin-off parodies Detective Conan so well. And that's all the series wants. That's why I give it a complete recommendation for every fan of Detective Conan.

Thanks for reading.

The Karate Kid Part II (1986)

Almost as good as the first part

[7/10 · 26 February 2023]

(This review contains spoilers!!!) Sequels are a controversial topic in film history. But here we see a positive example. "Karate Kid II" understands the essence of Karate Kid, but unfortunately it does the same thing again. The story picks up directly from the first part. We get to see some highlights from the first part again (you know...nostalgia) and then the action begins with the direct events after the big fight from part one. Sensei Miyagi gives his moral sermon. Something like, "For those who deserve death, life is a greater punishment." And bang six months have passed. In the second part, screenwriter Robert Kamen makes things very easy for himself. So he clumsily gets Ali out of the way by explaining via exposition: she had fallen in love with a football player. Now he could tell another love story. But this film is much more about Miyagi. His father is fatally ill and that's why Daniel and he travel to his native Okinawa. We learn about Miyagi's past and also the antagonist, the "John Kreese" of this film, Sato, is a product of that past. His son Chozen, I think it was the son, is the "Johnny" of this story. He of course bullies Daniel and his new girlfriend and after a lot of roughhousing and training finally comes the final fight Daniel vs. Chozen. Daniel gets beaten up first and defeats Chozen with his newly learned move - the drum technique (or something like this). I think you can see the similarities. Also that Sato becomes "good" from now on is too sudden and unbelievable.

"But you said the movie was good!" Right. Despite these problems, this sequel succeeded. It was recognized that Miyagi as a character is not out told, and so the movie revolves around him. Everything seems so familiar (why we know now) and yet the movie is fun. The script can be criticized, but the director's execution makes this film work. The acting is again top notch throughout and the camera and music leave nothing to be desired. This film has many decelerating moments, which is only good for it. And the final fight is also again well choreographed.

The film doesn't do much new. But everything just as good as the first part and tells a new story despite repetitions.

Thanks for reading.

X (II) (2022)

The slightly different horror film or porn film after all?

[7/10 · 7 January 2023]

A film crew wants to shoot a porn movie. To do this, they rent a cottage of an old couple. This was not a good decision, because it develops into a horror slasher story. The film is a slow burn. It takes 50 minutes to get to the first death, but we get to know the characters better. The acting is consistently good. Maxine, played by Mia Goth, turns out to be the main character. But also Jenna Ortega as Lorraine should be known to everyone after the huge success of Wednesday. The film deals with many themes. It is about lust of young and old and love, but also about religion. The film was inspired by other works like Psycho, which even gets a mention. Lorraine was first a shy person with a cross around her neck, in charge of audio, and evolves into a person who wants to be in the porn movie herself. To do this, the plot of the film must be changed in the middle. Similar to Psycho or X itself, which is first a porno and then becomes a horror film. The combination of these two genres is well done. There is a scene where they keep cutting back and forth between the porn movie and a real scene. In the process, the format also always changes and there are parallels of the plot of both scenes. The motive of the murderer is also based in lust. Thus, both genres, as well as porn film and reality slowly blur. In the first half, an uneasiness is triggered in the viewer. The old female owner of the estate is always portrayed mysteriously. You don't understand what she thinks or wants for a long time. This is also underlined by a great soundtrack. This, like the movie, combines sexy moans with creepy noises, creating a sound picture similar to the video game Little Nightmares. The film never gets really scary and the slasher aspect isn't particularly fun either. The film is carried by the mood, the mystery and the characters. Artistically, the film makes quite a bit.

Thanks for reading.