Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Interesteg What makes it different from others?

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. This is a way over par suspense film! Acting is riveting and due entirely to the remarkable performances delivered by the three stunning female lead actresses. The supporting cast (which is huge if you count all the cameos) is also quite good. Film direction is superb and strictly about generating edge-of-your-seat excitement. All stops seem to have been pulled out by the director to ensure the viewer never becomes complacent or comfortable. The pace of roughly the first half of the film is especially dynamic: when characters indicate their intention is to go somewhere, the film immediately cuts to that scene. Much of the second half includes various flavors of flashbacks mostly from the perspective of the lead actresses. Most occur on the edge of a cliff with the ever present threat of yet another over-the-cliff murder! The male protagonist is shown/confirmed to have lead two lives (perhaps with the help of his family members). What has been written off (by the police) as a suicide was really a murder; what was heretofore been considered a murder was a suicide; what was considered to be a suicide or murder may have been just an accident. Original source material exhibits a few artifacts of wear. Black and white cinematography (wide screen) is a bit on the dark side. Score is fine. Subtitles are just right (with a minimum of translational embellishment). WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

MartinHafer The ideas in "Zero No Shôten" are quite interesting, but the overall film left me rather flat--mostly because the final portion of the film just seemed way too talky and drug on and on for too long.This movie begins with a young bride searching for her husband. It seems that after being married only about a week, he disappeared and his new wife refuses to let go. So, she spends a lot of time searching throughout the countryside for him but keeps coming up with nothing. Then, out of the blue, she learns that the man has killed himself--but that he was using a different name. It seems that he'd been leading double lives--and already was married. But there's more to it than this...and maybe it wasn't suicide after all...and maybe there are more victims.Around halfway through the film, the second wife starts to realize that the suicide isn't exactly as the police have determined. So far, so good. But then the film talks and talks and talks. First, the second wife explains her theory. Then, the man's mistress (yes, there is a third woman) explains what happened. It all takes a very long time and is incredibly talky--as if they need to explain the movie. It's a shame, as the first part of the film was well done--the final was unconvincing and poor.Not at all Hitchockian...though what really IS Hitchcockian? Perhaps Hitchcock's films aren't even Hitchcockian!

josephbleazard This was the first film I had seen by Nomura and constituted a major disappointment. Nomura appears to belong to the static variety of Japanese directors, preferring lingering and beautiful black and white shots over the bravura editing of contemporaries such as Seijun Suzuki or early Kurosawa. This approach really does not fit the material which is a stultifyingly dull and procedural mystery story that at no point rises above the generic, or generates any palpable tension or danger.A point of comparison would be Rebecca by Hitchcock, mostly because of its focus on coastal scenery and echoes of the past affecting a hurried marriage. But this movie lacks any of the sexual or psychological aspects that make Rebecca so interesting. Some of the dialogue and minor performances are appalling. At one point a coastguard turns to a distraught bereaved wife and advises, straightfaced, "Why don't you walk to Noto cliff, It is very beautiful and a common spot to commit suicide." How did that ever get beyond the editing suite? Even the final exposition is ridiculously forced and overlong that I was tempted to fast forward to the end of the ending. One to miss

adverts Zero Focus plays like a bit like a semi-documentary police procedural and a bit like Rashomon. It's fast moving and seems to be well acted (sometimes it's hard to tell when the language spoken is not your native tongue). It's filled with twists and turns and should please some mystery fans. Keep in mind it is not a "thriller" - certainly not in the 2005 Blockbuster bid budget sense of the word.**SPOILER** The odd thing about the film is that you are aware that the husband is dead in the first half of the film -- and you are never led to believe that he MAY be alive (in fact, he isn't). The main thrust of the second half is finding out why/how he died (and how his brother died). Unfortunately, by the end, I didn't care. Why? Perhaps not enough character development -- I didn't feel I "knew" or really liked the characters, so I didn't care what happened to them.