Hey folks, Harry here and this certainly sounds like a tantilizing film to check out. Hopefully we'll all get a chance to see it, though I have to say, we've had a ton of great ghosts stories in theaters this past couple of years, and with DEVIL'S BACKBONE coming and this... Sounds like the genre is really having a peak of forms... Here's Taylor...
Hi there Harry. Since it doesn't appear anyone else has written in about this picture, I thought I'd say some words about the most amazing (though not the best) movie I've seen at this years festival thus far.
Pulse - Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa walks onto the stage of the Uptown 1 in Downtown Toronto to introduce his most recent film. His take on the teen-horror genre. Kiyoshi starts his introduction off discussing how last year while walking down our[your] beautiful Bloor St he saw a gaping hole where construction was about to begin on a new building and he was anxious in anticipation that he would be back in a year to see what new magnificent building was build there, however, he says... it's still not there. Very light hearted and modest Kiyoshi is harsh on himself saying (though an interpreter, who also did the English subtitles) that he promised to show a completed film, however saying "I have failed you again". And he then offered this picture as a piece, or insight into his goal of perfecting his craft of which (if memory serves) he assured us he would.
The lights went down, the curtain raised and so it began.
Pulse is referred to in the TIFF program book as an "internet ghost story", and says it's self-aware and smartly referential, like "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (the best NOES Sequel by far). The story deals with loneliness and isolation (not exactly the foundation of American sort of Horror movie). Mr. Kurosawa says he thought long and hard about life and death and surmised that death must be the ultimate in eternal isolation (a dreadful thought), and therefore if you are lonely in life, you might as well be a ghost, and therefore might as well die. During a character introduction, in a very humorous scene, he is shown installing an AOL-Like ISP CD. And once finally connected, he is immediately transferred to a web page where he observes dark and amazingly dreadful images of people in isolation, walking around like zombies. Things written on the walls. The site shows him some more images, then asks the question.. "Do you want to see a ghost?". Freaked out, as we, the audience are too, he shuts off his PC. Of course, later in the evening it turns itself on, further taunting the young man. He begins an investigation as it were and little by little, people are disappearing. Disappearing into "Forbidden Rooms" where their entrances are marked with red tape around the entrance. Which quickly becomes an image of immediate suspense and dread. I could say more about the story, but this movie really has to be experienced.
Pulse is an amazing film in many ways. And while I'm watching it, I wonder when he said he did not have a complete or finished movie that he wasn't really being coy and was actually referring to it as not really being finished, ready for release. He wasn't, but it was difficult to determine that while watching a picture with so many AMAZING scenes of horror and dread, then to watch another scene edited so poorly or placed so poorly in the timeline of the film... there were several scenes that just didn't finish. Take, for example, a "death" scene in this picture, you know one of the characters on the screen is about to die, but the movie goes from that scene, into a 3 second scene (with a abrupt cut, poor transition) with two characters sitting, looking over the dead body of that character, no words, then BAM, into another part of the story with another character. As distracting as these scenes were, and the many times I said to myself in my head "Uhh.. okay..", I was still delighted by many of the other scenes.
I would not call this a Horror film in the North American sense. There is no "killer". The thing to fear in this picture is the agony of loneliness. But at many, many times it is shocking and filled with fantastic suspense and dread. Far more easily than say, "The Blair Witch Project", but a similar sort of feeling, though more frequent and intense when watching Pulse. However, unlike BW, this film features a score. And according to the director it is the most sound intensive picture he has ever done. In some scenes he uses a chilling score to set you up. In other scenes.. dead silence. This is the first movie I've seen that uses "the Texas Chainsaw Massacre sound". Kiyoshi says that he used all natural sounds, and nothing was synthesized, so I guess that sound is a whale call. Sometimes used in appropriately, but more often that not, used brilliantly. The score, as unique in it's placement within the picture is a big factor in the environment of the film and perhaps may challenge American horror to step outside the formula.
Though I'm sure a result of budgetary concerns, one of the great things about this film is it's use of REAL software and OS's, it really helps add to the realism of the film, unlike Hollywood productions that use elaborate animations or software that doesn't exist to depict computer usage. I wanted to ask Mr. Kurosawa about that, and a few other things, but due to the time it took to translate and Mr Kurosawa's through responses, we only got through about 5 questions.
It's hard to say what the fate of this picture will be. I'm doubting we'll see a theatrical release in Canada or the US due to some of the awkwardness some of these scene transitions present, and the acting isn't all that great, but it also possesses the awkwardness of youth, and since I don't speak or read Japanese, I couldn't tell you how their delivery is, but I'll tell you, if you don't see it somehow (perhaps, DVD) you're missing out on a great film by an, apparently, almost-there director.
The TIFF guide's last words for Pulse say it best "Astonishing Cinema".
Taylor
