You can’t throw a rock without hitting a must-see movie at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and there are plenty more beyond the big name titles that are worth putting on the radar. And one that has our attention is Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s “Before We Vanish.”
Slotted into the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section, the latest from the director of “Cure,” “Creepy,” and “Tokyo Sonata,” seems to be a hybrid of an alien invasion story and relationship drama. Maybe something in the vein of the recently released “Colossal”? Here’s the synopsis from production company Nikkatsu, which seems to have been muddled in translation, but give you a general gist of things:
A man is possessed by an alien invader. How does his wife react?
A couple of Shinji and Narumi, lived in a loveless marriage. One day Shinji left missing for a week and he got gentle and calm suddenly after coming home. Narumi was puzzled with its radical change. She asked what Shinji was doing while he was away. Shinji replied, “I just have strolled.”
For medical specialist, the cause of his symptoms were unclear. “I’m not sure your husband has brain disorders, memory loss or any other disease…” A doctor only makes an ambiguous diagnosis. But one strange thing, the more he strolls, the better his brain disorders gets.
Narumi gradually hopes to restart with Shinji as if there was no problem between their relationship. However, one day Shinji confesses to Narumi. “Actually, I’m an alien. I came to invade the Earth.”
The invasions continue to spread quietly like an infectious disease. At the same time, there is another crisis such as military tensions between neighborhood countries and the threat of war and possible. Invaders will make people’s town life restless…
Starring Masami Nagasawa, Ryuhei Matsuda, and Hiroki Hasegawa, there’s no U.S. release date or distributor for this one yet, but that should change after the Cannes bow. [Cine Maldito]
