Berlinale 2023: Japanese Thriller ‘#Manhole’ Has Some Gnarly Twists
by Alex Billington
February 25, 2023
The stuck-in-one-place subgenre of horror is filled with intelligent ideas and locations to be caught in (from a coffin to a sailboat). #Manhole is the newest entry on this subgenre and it really is certainly one of these movies the place, it doesn’t matter what it’s anybody thinks is occurring earlier than watching, nobody will ever guess what the precise twist is till it arrives. The movie is the newest characteristic from Japanese style director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (additionally of Gap within the Sky, Inexperienced Thoughts Metallic Bats, Freesia: Bullet Over Tears, Magic, Blazing Famiglia, Sketches of Kaitan Metropolis, Summer time’s Finish, My Man, Mukoku) and it opened in Japan just some weeks earlier than premiering on the 2023 Berlin Movie Competition. The title is formally #Manhole with the hash image, which is smart as soon as the movie will get going and the social media subplot kicks in. This fast pageant overview will probably be spoiler free, as I would slightly everybody go watch this movie with out figuring out something extra earlier than heading in. It’s not a spoiler to say that there are twists, due to course, that is apparent & anticipated for a horror film like this.
A movie known as #Manhole a few man who falls right into a manhole and might’t get out is sure to have some twists – and I am positive the (eventual) trailer will probably have a couple of pictures hinting at them anyway. Understanding that this has a twist or two is not spoiling something, it is simply a part of the idea, although I’ll do my finest to not even trace at what the twists are as a result of it is higher to look at every part play out within the movie. Most of what occurs in #Manhole takes place down inside this darkish, dirty manhole. From a screenplay written by Michitaka Okada, #Manhole stars Yûto Nakajima as Shunsuke Kawamura, a younger Japanese man who finds himself trapped on the backside of an open manhole – he can nonetheless see the sky if he appears up. The film opens with a fast montage of him celebrating and consuming with buddies the night time earlier than, however as he heads house the subsequent factor he is aware of he blacks out & wakes up on this place. I am all the time down for these sort of thrillers, all the time hoping they are not too boring, and I am relieved to say this one saved my consideration and saved me on the sting of my seat. Largely questioning: what the hell is occurring with him, the place is he precisely and why he cannot get out?
One of many spectacular points of this thriller is how gritty and real looking this manhole setting is. Many style movies go for low finances choices that get rid of accuracy & actuality fully, which might typically work, however not all the time. In #Manhole, director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri and his crew constructed a really disgusting set that appears real looking – which I say having by no means been trapped on the backside of a Japanese manhole myself. However from the second he wakes up, all the standard grim and grit is down there with him – lifeless animals, bugs, disgusting sewage, repugnant water, mud, dust, and different objects you do not even need to take into consideration. That is necessary a part of the movie’s horror aesthetic – a realism that’s obligatory in imagery and in story to make it a severely gripping and unsettling expertise to look at because the viewers. In fact, the script ultimately goes by all of the motions of freaking out then making an attempt to get out when caught. His cellphone nonetheless has a sign (and battery energy) which permits him to connect with the surface world – however only some buddies appear to need to assist, and the police attempt to discover him however GPS the situation he sends them is improper, so he makes a social media account.
As anticipated, #Manhole isn’t just a film about the right way to discover and get this man out of the outlet. There’s fairly a bit extra happening, together with themes associated to id frequent in lots of Japanese movies these days. As soon as it will get to the twists – holy shit. Let’s speak about it extra as soon as everybody has an opportunity to look at. Within the meantime, let this movie play at style festivals the remainder of the yr and turn out to be a cult hit. All anybody wants to listen to is the “you’ll by no means determine it out!!” pitch and so they’re in. Positive, there’s lots to debate and talk about after. Did all of it work? Does all of it make sense? Does it even reply each query that it brings up…? Not precisely, however that is a part of the gross appeal. It depends on dirty realism but additionally takes a couple of big leaps – although not all of them land safely on the opposite facet. It feels a bit like a Twilight Zone episode, however that is not meant to present away something, solely to get you need to watch to search out out the place this contained thriller finally ends up. It is one other should see stuck-in-one-place thriller horror as a result of the discussions after are going to be so good. And if anybody does work out what’s going on earlier than it will get to the reveal, they need to most likely be working as a detective.
Alex’s Berlinale 2023 Score: 7.5 out of 10
Comply with Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
