Fuchi ni Tatsu (2016)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 120 minuten
Alternative titles: Harmonium / 淵に立つ
Country:
Japan / France
Directed by: Kôji Fukada
Stars: Mariko Tsutsui, Kanji Furutachi and Tadanobu Asano
IMDb score:
6,9 (3.087)
Releasedate: 8 October 2016
Fuchi ni Tatsu plot
The marriage of Toshio and his wife Akie is extremely banal. Every day seems to proceed according to a written scenario. Toshio runs a metal shop, and the only time he spends time with his wife and young daughter is when the family sits around the dinner table in almost silence. That pattern keeps repeating itself and they seem content with living as strangers to each other. Until one day a man shows up in Toshio's studio, all dressed in white. It is Yasaka, an old friend of Toshio's, who has just been released from prison. Toshio offers him work and provides him with shelter in the house. But beneath his clean, polite manners is a disturbing side: the man is clearly a harbinger of doom. And when disaster does strike the family, it doesn't happen in the way you'd expect.
Actors and actresses
Sotaro Yasaka
Akie Suzuoka
Toshio Suzuoka
Takasi Yamagami
Hotaru Suzuoka
Atusi Sitara
Hotaru Suzuoka (8 years later)
Reviews & comments
Onderhond
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- 87623 messages
- 12891 votes
Fukada already a little better.
With another excellent Asano, but also Kanji Furutachi certainly contributes. Together with Tsutsui, they carry the film, which is a bit reminiscent of a kind of cleaned-up Visitor Q. Perhaps that's why it all just doesn't feel sharp and bright enough.
The movie does a lot of good, but not a lot of great. Visually it is certainly okay, but given the strong competition within the genre, the film falls just that little bit short. Acting is powerful, but no part really stands out and in terms of drama it is quite catchy, but also somewhat implausible and too much drama.
During the first hour, Fukada builds up quietly, without revealing too much. Although it is soon noticeable in which direction the film wants to go. The second hour is one where a lot more information is revealed and every fifteen minutes a new, big reveal pushes the drama in a different direction. Interesting twists in themselves, but the film hardly has the time to really do anything with them.
Not that it should have been longer, 120 minutes was more than enough. In the end a nice drama, little to criticize, except that there are plenty of examples that just do it a bit better and more individual.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Donkerwoud
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- 8696 messages
- 3961 votes
'Harmonium' (2016) is a symbolically charged, absurd danse macabre about two spouses and a mysterious stranger. Husband Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) knows that Mr. Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano) is a threat to his wife and child, while his wife Akié (Mariko Tsutsui) is suddenly forced to tolerate a new presence in her presence. However, the imminent fate proves stronger than their attempts to control the uncontrollable stranger by keeping him close and wanting to manipulate (Toshio), or by encapsulating him in her own beliefs and ideas about morality and forgiveness (Akié). Kôji Fukada made a frighteningly cold film in which everyday tensions turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg of dormant horrors. The first act, in my opinion, does that a bit more than the second act, because then the slumbering threat doesn't quite take shape yet and it's unclear where this dysfunctional family dynamic will lead. In the second act, the film loses its momentum and some plot twists become a bit forced and far-fetched. Still, it's great how 'Harmonium' (2016) doesn't necessarily provide conclusive answers to its own mystery, but it does subtly work towards a final piece in which details from the foregoing only implicitly hint at the motives of the adult characters.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Movsin
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- 8286 messages
- 8442 votes
The "dark" ending seems to want to convince the viewer that there is more to the film than the naked story of retaliation (perhaps), coincidences and absurd twists
It is a sensitive film about human relationships in changing circumstances, about alienation, misfortune and powerlessness.
Very skillful how the director captivates you and ramps up the tension very slowly and curious is the final scene (a sadder reproduction of an earlier similar scene, not without symbolism) and how strange it is that Toshio is first involved in this cares more about the fate of Takashi, son of the possible founder of all mischief, than that of his own daughter..
Admirable image compositions.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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