The Village

The Village on Netflix is a 2023 Japanese film not to be confused with M Night Shyamalan’s film of the same name. In the Village (2023) our main character Yu Katayama works in a garage disposal facility in a small village of Kamonmura which is beautiful and remote. He is seen as an outcast due to his family name, but the return of a childhood friend changes him. The cinematography is particularly eye catching, and Japanese art invokes the storytelling early on and at points during the film, but at the same time the film focuses on mundane and everyday aspects of storytelling, to essentially present a tale of bullying, and the loss of tradition. There’s a sort of beautiful hollowness to the film. It’s very visually appealing, and it has the feel of grounded storytelling which is sort of tolerable but ultimately a bit uninspiring around impressive visuals. It’s worth a look but it can be a slog to appreciate overall.