Audience Member
A well acted and effectively directed psychological suspense film. The first third or so of the film is slow moving despite beginning with a killing but the pace picks up and the suspense builds as the story continues. It apparently is a cultural difference but I find the depiction in Japanese film and anime of male reactions to love and beautiful women very hard to believe. Are Japanese men really typically as inept with women as I was with girls when I was in my early teens? Aside from annoyance at that aspect of the romantic subplot, I found the story quite interesting and its morally ambiguous ending quite enjoyable. This is a movie that requires you to watch closely and not assume you understand what is really happening. Quite fascinating.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
One of the better mystery thrillers, a serial killer drama with a twist. When someone, i.e. a copycat killer gets their next target, the real serial killers, a suicidal young woman and an older man who seems to have a mental hold on her try to find who beat them at their game.
Shot in the Shibuya, Meguro, and Jiyuugaoka areas in Tokyo, both leads, Toyokawa Etsushi and Aso Kumiko pull a great double act the killers. Oh, but just wait until the twist that puts the story into a different perspective.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is an interesting and somewhat bizarre psychological film about a killer, a copycat killer, and the police trying to find both killers. Though starting out fairly straightforward, the film has many twists and turns and it keeps viewers on their toes. The story is quite good throughout, and the music is surprisingly unnerving and minimal. The atmosphere is pretty great. Also, you gotta love the fact that a movie from 2004 looks like it was filmed in the 80's. Performances are good for most of the characters. It does its problems though as it's a bit inconsistent in tone. At times, it tries hard to be as serious as possible and it usually works. However, whatever bleakness the movie conveys is immediately broken by a bit too much campy humour from the stupid, bumbling police officers; specifically to blame is the lead police officer who just acts completely ridiculous throughout the whole thing. The pacing could have been better as it's a bit too long. This movie really could have been something special but it was missing something. It's still worth checking out though.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is an interesting and somewhat bizarre psychological film about a killer, a copycat killer, and the police trying to find both killers. Though starting out fairly straightforward, the film has many twists and turns and it keeps viewers on their toes. The story is quite good throughout, and the music is surprisingly unnerving and minimal. The atmosphere is pretty great. Also, you gotta love the fact that a movie from 2004 looks like it was filmed in the 80's. Performances are good for most of the characters. It does its problems though as it's a bit inconsistent in tone. At times, it tries hard to be as serious as possible and it usually works. However, whatever bleakness the movie conveys is immediately broken by a bit too much campy humour from the stupid, bumbling police officers; specifically to blame is the lead police officer who just acts completely ridiculous throughout the whole thing. The pacing could have been better as it's a bit too long. This movie really could have been something special but it was missing something. It's still worth checking out though.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Random acts of weirdness turn out to be clues to an unsurprising, yet reasonable reveal. I had a lot of fun watching this. The Japanese are my favorite at plowing through absurdity with a straight face. The director employs a few visual flourishes to remind that this isn't a real crime thriller. The cops provide comic relief while the bad guys are almost frozen in their steadfast psychological drama. Asô Kumiko and Abe Hiroshi are present for credibility. I love Asô Kumiko and the film is mostly hers. She's pretty low key, doesn't swing her arms much when she walks, but she's still engaging, becoming more so as the film progresses and you get on board with her and her hilarious attempts at suicide. The moral of the story needs a bucketload of salt but who cares? It's not laugh out loud funny but it's a good dark comedy of inner-child pain and murder. Not a lot, but a little, blood. The goriest thing has to be the nicotine stew Asô cooks up for herself.
<a href='http://sitenoise-atthemovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/man-behind-scissors-hasami-otoko-2005.html' target='_blank'>sitenoise at the movies: The Man Behind the Scissors</a>
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Different point of view from a novel. Film can't beat the novel, but film version was also good because of Etsushi and Kumiko's acting.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
Full Review
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