By Nia Edwards-Behi
I’d seen the UK DVD release of Greatful Dead advertised quite a bit on the Third Window Films Facebook page, before seeing it in the line-up at BIFFF. It was a title I’d almost immediately added to my DVD wishlist, so the opportunity to see it on a big screen was extremely welcome.
Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) had something of a twisted childhood. Now an adult, she lives alone and likes it that way. A very merry recluse, she finds great joy in observing fellow loners and oddballs, usually maintaining her distance. However, she soon finds her ultimate ‘solitarian’, an old man who used to be famous, Mr. Shiomi (Takashi Sasano), who now spends his days alone and extremely unhappy. Nami sets up camp on a roof opposite the old man and spends her days happily observing his loneliness. Her happiness is dashed when the old man receives a visit from Su Yong (Kkobbi Kim), a young woman promoting Bible reading, and he finds a new lease of life, including connecting with religion and reconciling with his estranged family. Of course, for Nami, this just won’t do, and the extent of her possessiveness becomes dangerously – and lethally – apparent.
It’s fair to say Greatful Dead was not the film I was expecting, and no doubt all the better for it. Indeed, for much of its first third the film could easily be thought of as a straight-up comedy, and once events take a turn for the much, much darker, that humour is retained to wonderful effect. Kumi Takiuchi’s performance as Nami is phenomenal and, for me, was crucial to the film’s varying tones working so well and sitting so comfortably alongside each other. While she employs a certain over-the-top style for the film’s more purely funny moments, she is also, at other times, both terrifying and, somehow, incredibly sympathetic. The film’s greatest success is that it manages to be both extremely disturbing at times (there’s one scene in particular that made me especially uncomfortable), as well as being really quite moving, and all while retaining its sense of humour.
The film also succeeds in being more than a film about a lone wacko, and instead approaches the issues of loneliness, grief, estrangement and aging in a very entertaining and inventive way.
Here’s where I wish I could say I knew a bit more about Japanese culture in relation to this, as I think that might add some further depth to the film’s impact. This is beyond hikikomori – Nami’s loneliness has transcended mere reclusiveness and convinced her she’s happy, made her outwardly functioning and ultimately has a devastating effect. The film is strangely religious, too, with Su Yong being arguably the film’s most sympathetic character, which is surprising. Indeed, at the film’s close her importance truly comes to the fore.
The rather extreme tonal shifts in the film might be a bit jarring or off-putting to some, but for me this made the film all the more interesting than a more straight-forward horror, thriller or comedy might interesting have been. Greatful Dead is well worth your time, then, but for the love of god, go talk to someone afterwards.
Greatful Dead is available on UK Blu-ray now, from Third Window Films.