Before We Vanish

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babarizam D Its a compelling movie. Not a typical sci fi movie but deeply thoughtful and raise many questions Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/09/24 Full Review Diana S It's far too long and thinks itself a little too clever. It's an interesting sci-fi angle, and the ending was powerful enough. If the film has been edited more tightly and we'd gotten there more quickly, it would have resonated more strongly for me. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/28/24 Full Review Josh G A wonderful film combine great acting, many genres and a killer visual and color use. The cast delivers in this odd art film and makes you believe aliens are real, and the complicated relationships and politics of humanity matter and apply to all those who think. It begs the question what is the value of a human, Incredible film making. The space between defines us. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/14/23 Full Review Taylor L Before We Vanish is a strange genre clash that isn't to all tastes. The overarcing plot is simple enough - three aliens take over human bodies as scouts for an imminent invasion - but from there the film gets tricky. The scouts learn about humanity by stealing concepts from individual people (as in, to learn about property rights, they'll yoink the whole concept of property rights out of your mind). The film also diverges into two distinct pathways; one is an alien that has taken over an unfaithful man and who explores the idea of a relationship with his wife with unexpected sincerity, the other is a more conventional invasion narrative where the other two aliens (more violent and sociopathic) recruit a beat reporter to undergo an oddly laid-back quest to get a signal out to the invading army, all while facing down Japan's version of the Men in Black. You with me so far? Well, you've got plenty of time to figure things out, because writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation) has no qualms about taking his time to get to a destination. He's also very free-form with tone, treating violence as a kind of comic relief at points but also trending towards more profound, apocalyptic sci-fi and dealing heavily with the concept of human identity (as seen through the lens of an extraterrestrial intelligence). It's a bit interesting and offbeat, particularly the thought of long-simmering marital tensions being solved by alien possession, but the ending is a bit of a sticking point for me, with aliens calling off the invasion because they apparently learned about love; kind of hokey, the sort of thing you'd expect in an under-10 Disney sci-fi rather than a genre-bender like this. Very lackluster effects aren't a big selling point either. Anyway it's got unique pieces and I can see genre fans and cult film buffs fawning over this one. (3/5) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a movie that improves with repeated viewings. Also, if you are watching it strictly for an exciting alien invasion story, I think you will be disappointed. This movie is basically a quirky fable about what it means to be human, as seen through the eyes of aliens. It is also a love story. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member So boring, really annoying characters, terrible ending. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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