[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

A film that is considered by many to be the best rider film and just a great film overall, outside of the tokusatsu genre. I'm not even sure if it should count as a tokusatsu, given that the first battle takes place at the 40th minute of the movie, and the protagonist only transforms at all 10 minutes before the end. Cinematography, interesting work with the camera, no obsession with toys - all this is in this great film.

It's interesting to think that 2022 gave us Kamen Rider Black Sun, a heavily-promoted international release aimed at adults that I found almost relentlessly banal and off-putting, and Trio Of Deep Sin, a movie that was completely off my radar that managed to be a thoughtful, nuanced portrayal of how memory becomes its own character in a story as we get older.

I really love that Saber opted to make its first V-Cin into a contemplative, character-focused adult drama. It's mature in the way stuff like Amazons and Black Sun never were to me: conflicted about adulthood, desperate to connect emotionally, and melancholy about its superheroics. It's... yeah, it's just a good movie, full stop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I deliberately never wrote a post about this movie.

There're so many parts of the movie I could call out for criticism or praise, but it's not how I felt when I finished watching it. The thing about Rintaro's dad, which I could probably spend at least a paragraph being apoplectic about, I didn't really leave the film with an interest in litigating failures or whatever. I liked its tone, and its gentleness, and its anger, and its need to put that anger somewhere, and its revelation that putting the anger anywhere leaves no room for sincerity and joy. The details... I don't really care? I don't really care.