2023 JAPAN CUTS: FESTIVAL OF NEW JAPANESE FILM REVIEW!
When a young woman (Kotone Furukawa) visits her grandparents, the unthinkable begins to happen. Her grandparents are not like she remembers them to be, the reality that she once lived in seems to be dwindling, and her future seems uncertain. Best Wishes to All is this woman’s story as she finds herself pitted against forces that she didn’t believe to be real. Can she find her way to better days, or is the strange reality that she has found herself in the one that will ultimately consume her?
This film is dark, I mean so dark that sometimes it was hard to see what the hell was going on. This is good and bad. I believe that while viewers can physically see the film’s protagonist throughout, much of Best Wishes to All takes place in her mind. Viewers see what she sees, they feel what she feels–and the film is ultimately a representation of the world in which she lives. With that being said, I think it’s important to understand that the stresses that she is currently experiencing can cause her to become mentally fuzzy, incapable of fully grasping or comprehending what is happening around her. To think of Best Wishes to All as a story that takes place in her head (not saying that these things aren’t really happening, but that we are playing the role with her) adds another dimension to the film and makes it far more enjoyable.
On the Japan Society website the Best Wishes to All team describes the ending as “disturbingly satisfying.” If you’re going to boast that your film is this good, then you better deliver–and I’m not sure that the film did. I was waiting for this huge payoff, for something to come after the slowburn of the film, and yet, I’m not sure that anything ever changes. The film gets weirder and weirder for sure (at least through the first forty-ish minutes), which means that it definitely progresses from the opening moments when it feels like nothing is happening–but it seems to plateau relatively early. By the end it seems that nothing new has happened, and I was ultimately disappointed.
Best Wishes to All is a horror story through and through, but I think there’s a bit of satire in there as well. Viewers are constantly on edge from the horror aspect of the film–and that feeds into the satirical nature of what they see as well. While I sat there, on edge, I was able to see the horrific things that take place in the world around me, and that helped to strengthen the narrative and force me to think. This is where Best Wishes to All thrives, this is where this seemingly unhinged film comes together and manages to reach its audience.
There are moments throughout Best Wishes to All that the film becomes challenging, when it seems like this would all lead to nothing and be for nothing. While I do feel as if the ending was a bit anticlimactic, I believe that the film does something. It forces viewers to think, even if on a small scale. Best Wishes to All will likely make viewers think on a larger scale, outside of the film–but just the fact that it makes them think at all is a win for the film. I obviously feel a certain way about Best Wishes to All, but I’m still not entirely sure what to make of the film days later.
Directed by Yûta Shimotsu.
Written by Rumi Kakuta & Yûta Shimotsu.
Starring Kotone Furukawa, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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