Over Your Dead Body

3/12/2018

I don't know much about theatre in Japan, but I associate this movie to be similar to the the little Noh I have seen, even though the stage play in center of the narrative is based on the play "Yotsuya Kaidan" from the later period of Kabuki theatre. Kuime takes you on a mesmerizing journey of two, if not three or more, parallel narratives where the on stage facilitates the backstage drama. The pacing is very restrained and timing for accents is crucial. Aesthetically it is very pleasing and has an interesting exposed re-use of the movie sets similar to the actors doing multiple roles and their stories being intertwined. Finally the horror elements are creeping and lead up to several gruesome conclusions. That said, I can see why it did not attract a western audience, as the pacing