Shisha no sho (2005) User Reviews

weird film with great traditional beauty

[flowerlipscn · 6/10 · 1 December 2007]

I just finished the film and now I'm almost totally confused. The film is incredible because of its unique way to make it with Japanese traditional figures, but it's really hard to understand the meaning of the noble lady's behaviors and the dead prince's being both a ghost and a Buddha. Maybe the film is so conventional and traditional that it was initially made absolutely for Japanese people to appreciate. It is full of a kind of quiet beauty, leading you ahead into a mysterious culture, but from then on, you will be easily lost in the plots. The noble lady seems falls in love with the Buddha prince, but when the prince awoke from death and came to her, she could hardly say a word or welcome and accept him. It confuses me. I wonder if she loves him or not. In the end she made the painting for the dead one (at first she wanna make the canvas into a suit for him but suddenly changed her mind for no reason) and left sadly with tears. why? It turns out that The Buddha finally has nothing to do with her, so why he visited her at night like a haunting ghost before? The film eventually offers no replies to all these questions, so you have to think over it yourself, but till now, I'm still in a mess.

The film's eccentricity has nothing to do with the Buddhism or the Zen. It's with the way it expresses itself.

Gorgeous , Incredible Animation - Baffling ending and meaning

[ChungMo · 9/10 · 17 November 2007]

Despite my high rating, I really don't know what the meaning of the whole thing is. Part drama, part ghost story and part Buddhist parable, the film is exquisite and quite breathtaking while you watch the intricate stop-motion animation. Real stop motion is becoming a rarity as computers overwhelm the movie business. If you have any appreciation for this vanishing art, this film, despite the mysterious story, is the best example of stop- motion in recent memory. The recreations of silk and hair in the wind is incredible.

The plot concerns a sheltered aristocratic woman in feudal Japan. Bored and unfamiliar with the world outside her estate, she passes the time copying a special Buddhist sutra sent by her father who has been absent on official business for years. While gazing out her window one late afternoon, the setting sun creates a vision of a holy figure in the distant mountains. This inspires the woman to copy more sutras. Eventually she follows the vision towards the mountains and finds herself in a monastery with a strange old woman who tells of a heroic prince who was buried at the monastery many years earlier. The ghost of the prince visits the lady at night.

While short for a feature, the film is slow paced. The model work is fantastic along with the lighting and small bits of animation included. The ending seems abrupt but that might be because I am unfamiliar with the meaning of the Buddhist tale being told. I'll watch it again.

A Labour of Spiritual, Artistiscally Sprawling, Yet Somewhat Underfunded Love

[owlinabowl · 21 July 2006]

Sometimes its quite astounding as to how far the lengths of which a person will go to finish what they started.

Its this tearful perseverance and blind drive that both makes this films materialistically and snaps it in two in reality.

Filmed almost entirely (aside from the credits) in stop-motion it's the sprawling story of three souls' platonic turbulence in period era Japan and the relentlessness with which they decide to pursue their means to an end.

Ever so slightly dubious in the fabric of its subject matter - One of the plot lines concerns a man wishing to court his brothers daughter - its execution is flawless. There is almost no inconsistency regarding the sound and characters and the voice acting is exemplary.

Yet unfortunately there is no true resolution in any area of the story. I want to believe that perhaps this was a matter of scheduling or deadline yet the films residue seems to indicate that perhaps it was budget difficulty through which this particular stumbling block arose.

So lavish is its content, particularly the drawing scene at the end. And yet so unfamiliar is its length - its just under a hour and a quarter - for a short film that is wasn't really too surprising that it would grind to a halt like it did. This is a shame.

The people behind this clearly have a huge amount left in them.