Some of the biggest movie news all of last year slipped right in at the end without much fuss or fanfare, and for good reason, the world was dealing with more significant problems. However, now the west is finding out exactly what that news was. Japan has a new highest-grossing film of all time, knocking off cultural juggernaut and near-unanimously praised masterpiece Spirited Away. So, what knocked off such a beloved film from top place? A TV anime tie in film by the name of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train”, and I’m delighted to report that it’s faced paced thrilling entertainment well worthy of the loving fans it was made for.
As is the case with every tie in film of this nature, anyone who hasn’t seen the hugely popular series will initially be thrown in the deep end, which was the case for me. And yes, there’s a delirium to overcome, but generally, the film explains itself rather well, at least enough to get to grips. We drop in on a group of four hero’s composed of the central character Tanjiro (Natsuki Hanae), his demon sister Nezuko (Akari Kitō), his friend, the perpetually mortified Zenitsu (Hiro Shimono), and Tanjiro’s comical rival Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), who is depicted exclusively wearing a boar mask. The gang are boarding the Mugen train to greet Kyōjurō Rengoku (Satoshi Hino), a master of fire in the art of demon-slaying. He is there to investigate strange disappearances that can only be the work of demons, and as such, events are set in motion to ensure the train gets to its destination safely.
Perhaps this films biggest achievement, outside of its staggeringly beautiful animation, is how the narrative tricks you into caring for someone you’ve just met. Of course, this is what every good original screenplay does, but this isn’t quite the same. Here we meet Rengoku halfway through a larger story, and surrounding him are characters with 26 episodes of depth and backstory, yet he remains endearing. Obnoxious at the start and brilliantly heroic by the end, Rengoku’s arc is pitch-perfect throughout Mugen Train, and he is the beating heart of why this film works.
The runtime is also a surprise success. When I read I was going to spend 2 hours with Mugen Train, I almost audibly groaned. Other films in this vein tend to hang around for a pleasant 90 minutes, maybe 100, like any recent Dragon Ball Super picture. Demon Slayer has no interest in that. Instead, it takes a shot of adrenaline and manages all 2 hours of near-constant thrill, from hellish dream sequences to brutal beheadings, Mugen Train pulls no punches, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Director Haruo Sotozaki came to this project knowing precisely what it had to be; an orchestral arrangement of anime gore conducted by hero’s worth rooting for.
Yes, this comes with drawbacks. The main villain, Enmu (Hirakawa Daisuke), is campy and hardly inspires any real sense of danger; he also finds himself in the shadow of a figure who appears later in the film. Furthermore, not every character is utilised adequately, with Zenitsu literally only being along for the ride and Nezuko only popping up here and there. While that is a shame, the sheer pace of the action justifies it, and fans of those characters will still have a couple of scenes they can gleefully enjoy.
Overall, don’t come into this film desperately seeking answers about how anything could better Spirited Away’s box office, Mugen Train isn’t a Ghibli film; you won’t find anything but a bad taste in your mouth. Instead, see Mugen Train if you want a dose of raw thrill, wonderfully brought to life by state-of-the-art animation.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train is in theatres now in North America and Australia, and will release in the UK May 26
Forbidden To See Us Scream In Tehran: Review – This short drama film follows Shima (Mohadeseh Kharaman), a young woman living in Tehran. Shima is the singer of a metal band which due to Iran’s strict laws must remain underground, with practices and concerts being held in secret. After practice one day, one of Shima’s bandmates Farzad (Babak Kamangir) presents a bold plan. He suggests that the band should call the authorities on their own underground concert which means they will be arrested. Farzad believes that news of their arrest will eventually spread worldwide and in turn will garner the band sympathy from other nations. Meaning that after they are released from prison, they will be able to seek asylum in another country. Once there, they will be free to openly pursue their dreams as musicians.
Initially, Shima thoroughly dismisses this plan as it poses too great a risk to both the bandmates and the concertgoers. However, she starts to reconsider when Farzad suggests that this plan would also benefit her sister Sherin (Sarina Amiri). Sherin is deaf and Farzad suggests that as a result of this, Sherin is limited in what she can achieve in Tehran. If however Shima is able to make it to another country, she could eventually bring Sherin to her. The remainder of the film follows Sherin as she contemplates the risks she is willing to take to achieve her dreams, imprisonment and separation from her sister, and questions what is truly motivating her.
Writer/director Farbod Ardebili crafts a thoughtful and layered film despite its short runtime. Within seconds of the film’s opening we get a clear understanding of the risk Shima is taking to simply be in this band. The film opens with men questioning a woman about her appearance as Shima walks past on her way to practice. Immediately the audience is shown the world in which this story takes place and the realities of the consequences of the actions these characters are taking, without bogging down the film with exposition. Ardebili is also unafraid to tackle the complexities and layers of Shima’s character. The film raises questions as to whether Shima’s goal in agreeing to this plan is to provide a better life for her sister, pursue her own goals and ambitions, or something in the middle. By looking at these various facets, the character of Shima feels fully dimensional and realized as opposed to a reductive “musician with a dream” or a “perfect selfless sister.” Farbod Ardebili also contributes original songs to the film which melodically and lyrically perfectly encapsulate the frustration and anger that Shima feels and the freedom performing gives her.
At this film’s center is a phenomenal performance by Mohadeseh Kharaman as Shima. Kharaman makes great use of physicality and line delivery to illustrate the weight and pressure that Shima is under. Even in scenes with no or limited dialogue it is clear to the audience that Shima is torn between her desire to pursue her dreams and the fact that pursuing her dreams means leaving her sister. In a sense this film is about Shima’s struggle to reconcile these two aspects of herself. During the scenes where the band is performing Kharaman shows a whole other side of Shima. A performer who is able to truly express her rage and frustration, but also fulfillment doing what she loves. Sarina Amiri is also fantastic as Sherin, playing someone who clearly loves their sibling and would hate to lose them, but also does not wish to hold them back. The scenes the pair have together feel as though they have a genuine sense of chemistry and history, enabling viewers to easily invest in them despite not knowing everything about them.
The cinematography by Masoud Amini Tirani fits the material perfectly alternating between kinetic tracking shots for the film’s opening and concert scenes to quiet and thoughtful close-ups for the film’s more intimate moments. Throughout the film there is the presence of strong neon lighting which make the shot compositions even more dynamic.
Forbidden to See Us Scream in Tehran is an engaging short film that meditates on the cost of what it takes to pursue your dreams and how it can impact those around you, particularly in certain cultures. Featuring a nuanced script, engaging performances, vibrant cinematography and memorable music, fans of powerful short films should seek this one out.
Knots: A Forced Marriage Story is an eye-opening documentary about the practice of forced marriage that still goes on to this day in America. There are certain preconceptions around forced marriage, there are ideas that forced marriages only occur in faith-based families and they come from some religious connotations based on archaic beliefs. There’s also the idea that it could be something that’s done in foreign countries that most people have never heard of, let alone identify on a map.
There’s also the misconception that forced marriages only happen to adult women. Knots attempts to teach its audience about the truths surrounding forced marriages and reveals some startling facts, using three cases of women who have been forced into marriage.
Fraidy Reiss grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community and was forced to marry a man she had barely even met who was much older than her. Nina Van Harn grew up in a Christian household and she had no choice when her father chose the person that she was to marry.
Then there’s Sara Tasneem who at 15 years old was kidnapped by her father and forced to marry a man nearly twice her age. The stories of these three women are never meant to shock and appal its audience, instead they just simply state the facts of what happened and how they felt throughout their ordeals, in their own words.
The documentary itself not only talks to these women, but also to experts and campaigners who put out the facts and figures surrounding forced marriage in America and the legal loopholes that are exploited. Stating these facts plainly and clearly, the statistics are shocking, especially knowing that this is still an issue up to the time of writing this review.
Knots goes into great detail, not only highlighting the cases that give their first-person accounts, but also the ways in which families and communities can manipulate young women so that they feel that they don’t have a choice. Some even make them believe that the choice was entirely theirs when it wasn’t.
An important documentary for those who think they know all they need about forced marriages, because it will show them that they probably don’t.
Ahead of the Channel Premiere of sci-fi drama EXTANT on Horror Channel, series creator & writer Mickey Fisher reflects on being plucked from relative obscurity, working with Steven Spielberg and hoping for life on Mars…
Did you know from a young age that you wanted to be a writer?
From the time I was maybe five or six years old I wanted to be an actor. Going to see STAR WARS is one of my earliest memories, but I didn’t quite understand what I was really watching. At a certain point, someone explained to me that Fonzie wasn’t a real guy, he was an actor pretending to a character on HAPPY DAYS, and I thought that sounded like the coolest job in the world. I went to The College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati to study Musical Theatre, and it wasn’t until I was there that I really started writing. A lifetime of loving movies and television started pouring out into plays and screenplays, and by the time I left college, I wanted to be a writer just as much as I wanted to be an actor.
When did you first have the idea for Extant?
The idea for EXTANT started out as a play. I had this realization that was, “Nobody does sci-fi plays. Why not? It can be inexpensive, small cast, cool set, maybe some projections.” And I started thinking about an astronaut who was in deep space on a solo mission who started to hallucinate people from her past. Then I saw a movie called MOON, which I loved, and there were similar elements, so I kind of put it away for a bit. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2011, I started thinking about what kind of original pilot I wanted to write and I followed one of the key pieces of advice that you get as a writer, which is, “Write the show you would really want to watch.” When I thought about it, the show I really wanted to watch was about that astronaut.
It’s an amazing story of how it got produced, could you tell us all about it?
I had moved to Los Angeles after a number of years in New York and didn’t know many people who were working in the industry. So after I wrote the pilot I didn’t have a lot of options for what to do with it. I decided to enter it into a contest called The Tracking B TV Pilot Contest, and I actually came in second place. But the main prize of the contest is that they try to put your script into the hands of agents and managers.
Within two weeks, I had a manager and had signed with WME, one of the biggest agencies in the world. They represent Amblin Television, the TV side of Steven Spielberg’s business, and their first suggestion was, “We think we should send this story about aliens and robots to the guy who does it best.” I was freaking out that this guy I’d been a fan of for nearly my entire life would even read my name on the cover a script, let alone want to make the show. But, then he wanted to make the show! They partnered me with a showrunner, we took the pitch and the script out to nine different places, and CBS ordered it straight to series, on my 40th birthday. I was the proverbial 20 year overnight success story.
What’s it like to work on a series where Steven Spielberg is attached to it?
I’m an Amblin kid. I grew up exactly in the sweet spot for all of his movies. I saw E.T. over and over the summer it came out, my dad and I watched RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in back to back screenings opening weekend. I have pictures of my wearing JURASSIC PARK t-shirts the summer it landed. So, it was surreal and terrifying and super cool and so much fun all in one. He was very hands on throughout the process of launching the show, from overseeing the design and casting to weighing in on all the scripts. The first day he came to set, we were shooting at Culver Studios. We were all standing around talking to him and he just casually mentioned, “We shot part of E.T. on this stage. The ship was right over there.” I’ll remember that moment until I die. That will be my “Rosebud” from Citizen Kane moment, where I’m on my death bed, pointing, “The ship was over there.”
Did you write it with a cast in mind?
I didn’t really have a cast in mind when I wrote it. I knew the qualities I wanted in the actors, and I knew that for Molly we needed someone who was smart, soulful, somebody not afraid of going over the edge, but also somebody that you rooted for right away. Basically, I was describing Halle Berry.
What did you think when you heard that Halle Berry had been cast in the series?
My first thought was, “Please don’t let us screw that up.” From the moment I heard her name I couldn’t picture anybody else in the role. Another dream come true. Creatively, it was a great choice but it also brought a lot of attention to the show because it was her first time coming back to television in many years.”
What was it like when you stepped onto the set for the first and saw the cast and crew bringing your words to life?
If we were in person and I was describing this moment to you I would inevitably start to cry. There’s nothing like the feeling of sitting down with a blank piece of paper, dreaming up a house and a space station, and then seeing hundreds of talented artists and craftsman bringing it to life in a three-dimensional space.
The only way to describe it is that it’s like having the ability to walk around inside of your imagination. One of my favorite things to do when I had a break was to take my laptop, lay on the floor of Ethan’s bedroom, and write my next episode. I called it “method writing.”
It has a grand, cinematic feel to it, how involved were you with the look and feel of Extant?
I was very involved with the first season showrunner, Greg Walker, but so much of the credit for that has to go to our pilot director, Allen Coulter, our first season DP M. David Mullen, first season production designer Cabot McMullen, and the rest of the team. And, of course, the insight and the direction from Steven.One of the cool things about season two is that there’s an evolution to the look of the show that is rooted organically in what’s happening with the characters. The second season team was all new, from the showrunners to the designers and cinematographer, and we set out to capture a new look and style that went along with the more earthbound, pulpy, propulsive direction the story was taking. It feels like two distinct chapters in a longer story, each with their own look and feel.
The show retains a very strong following across the globe, does this surprise you?
YES! I’m thrilled that it’s still alive out there in the world. This is a crazy business in that you spend so much energy and time making these things and then you have to move on. I have so many great memories from the show and it gave me the chance to have a career that is still going on eight years later. To know that there’s still a chance that it could spark someone else’s imagination halfway around the world means so much.
What advice would you give to budding writers?
As a new writer, you tend to get two pieces of advice. “Write what you know,” and “Write the show you want to watch.” My voice as a writer clicked into place when I put those two pieces together. EXTANT was about “what I know” in that it dealt with questions about what it means to be human, about empathy, love, loyalty, mystery vs certainty, but I was putting all of that into exactly the kind of show I would binge in a day. I would say take all of your dreams, desires, fears, passions, and funnel them into whatever show you’d watch or movie you’d stand in line for.
Do you believe that there’s intelligent life outside of our solar system?
One hundred per cent yes. I’m hopeful that in my lifetime we’ll at least learn there is evidence that life once existed on Mars, maybe in the form of microbes in the ice. I don’t know that we’ll get evidence of intelligent life, but I think it would be pretty arrogant to think we’re the only ones who made it this far.
So, what are you working on at the moment?
Right now I’m co-writing a pilot script for Netflix, based on a novel called FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER that came out recently and have a couple of other pitches for new things in the near future.
EXTANT airs weekdays on Horror Channel from May 11, 8pm.
Mainstream Synopsis: A longing artist vying to be seen, Frankie (Maya Hawke) finds a path to internet stardom when she starts making videos with Link (Andrew Garfield), a charismatic stranger with an alluring hold on the camera. Alongside her coworker Jake (Nat Wolff), the trio makes waves on the internet through their unconventional methods, a dangerous unkempt streak that could lead to their demise.
While the film registered a minor dent on the zeitgeist, Gia Coppola’s meditative, angst-drive debut Palo Alto left a sizable impact on me. Akin to her well-statured relatives, Coppola exhibited a poised reverence for honest emotionality amidst her insecure teen protagonists. The film powerfully echoes with longing and open-hearted vulnerabilities, reflecting genuine adolescent sentiments in ways few coming-of-age tales can match (I can’t forget to mention Devonte Hynes’ affectingly atmospheric score).
Coppola now returns to the screen with Mainstream, a sleek LA satire of three dreamers vying for YouTube stardom under the guise thoughtful of artistic expression. The subject matter couldn’t feel more timely, but Coppola’s abrasive bold streak never masks the oppressive shallowness.
Social media presents vast opportunities for meaningful critiques (look at the numerous stories centered around the sinister undertones behind influencer personalities). Coppola’s screenplay seems to have a pulse on the platforms’ oppressive superficiality and degrading undertones, but her approach never feels connected to the real-world intricacies. Link makes a few obvious parodies of basic bro influencers before creating a dated game show format that doesn’t reflect modern social media tendencies (it felt more connected to a parody of bad TV game shows).
Everything is so overproduced and gimmicky instead of the artificially-built realism real influencers represent. With all the inauthentic frames, Coppola’s thematic connotations never range much deeper than a stern finger wag at the audience (the plotting’s obvious nature doesn’t allow ideas to ruminate naturally). The strained screenplay choices impact the character building the most, with none of the lead trio developing a persona outside of stereotypical contrivances. Frankie and Jake’s aspirational spirits lack substantive shading while Link’s wild-child persona is vacant of emotional intimacy. Audiences never get a sense of what motivates the three outside of the screenplay’s formulaic storytelling whims.
After exhibiting poetic restraint with Palo Alto, Coppola strives for a bolder visual profile with largely mixed results. Imbuing high-energy visuals makes sense as a compliment to the material’s boisterous vapid streak, yet Coppola and cinematographer Autumn Durald settle for a visual busyness that lacks grace. Waves of emoticons and text notifications establish a cheap veneer from social media’s high-flying activity. All the visual flourishes feel oddly akin to Link’s desperate pleas for attention. So much about this film screams for viewers interest, but both the visuals and storytelling are not equipped for the task.
Even as the film ambitiously flops, Mainstream still extracts a level of prolific entertainment. Audiences are destined to be hit or miss on Andrew Garfield’s abrasive turn as the vlogging try-hard Link, but I thought his manic mannerisms manifest a level of reality from the character’s nonstop posturing. The film is at its best when Link’s unkempt dangers are released, including a show-stopping dance finale representative of the film’s sinister connotations (the film generates its best laughs when leaning into the ridiculousness of Link’s).
I wanted so badly for Mainstream to work. Coppola’s film presents fascinating potential, but the film rarely lives up to its idealistic concepts.
Mainstream releases in select theaters and on VOD on May 7th.
