A rambling, disjointed, and uninspiring tale of: an impoverished electronic junk dealer; his two hapless and mentally unstable sons; and a mysterious and determined alpha jelly fish. Truth be told, the latter is one of the two real stars of this film; the other being the cinematographer (see below). Jelly fish when viewed from below (often the case here) can really look like they are not of this world (and were favorite space invaders in low-budget sci-fi movies in the 1950's and 1960's) with powers to terrorize earthlings (this time it's Tokyoites). What they really can do is deliver a nasty sting - considered fatal in the film. The other star of the film is cinematographer SHIBANUSHI Takahide. Shibanushi provides an ocular banquet of digital and analog tricks and techniques which are a pure pleasure to experience. These include adding emphasis by fading back and forth between black/white and color during a scene; the use of color as a highlight (like a color TV screen) when everything else in the frame is black/white; deep focus where foregrounds and backgrounds are both in focus; and what appears to be the longest noncomputerized tracking shot in the modern Japanese cinema (at the film's end). Directing is lackluster and often lacks imagination. Acting rarely raises above the amateurish melodramatic level. Music sounds like it was inserted at random. It is usually totally out of place and detached from what is happening on screen. Subtitles seem to be fine Except for the photography, definitely not recommended. Viewed at a JICC Virtual J-Film event. WILLIAM FLANIGAN.
Review of Bright Future
