REVIEW: ‘The Village’ Delivers A Tale Full Of Hardship

In Kamon village lives Yuu Katayama(Ryû Yokohama). A simple man who struggles through life, weighed down by his mother’s gambling addiction and the mistreatment of many in the town, Yuu’s life is less than ideal. But when his old friend Misaki(Haru Kuroki) returns to town, things look like they may change in The Village, directed and written by Michihito Fuji.

A great story is more than the sum of its parts. Delivering some strong emotional moments isn’t enough to craft a great narrative. The whole must come together to engage the viewer, making the high points of the narrative and even the connective tissue that brings them together matter, culminating in an ending that delivers a payoff worthy of the time invested. Sadly, The Village never managed to get all these elements together.

The one element that this story never fails throughout its two-hour runtime is the sympathetic nature of Yuu. His struggles against his lot in life at the beginning of the story instantly make the viewer feel for him. He is being punished by everyone around him for things that are not his fault and burdened with the shortcomings of those he feels beholden to. Despite delivering a few lines during these opening scenes, Yokohama does an excellent job delivering the weight and magnitude of Yuu’s pain. His body language says it all as he silently shuffles through the opening scenes with his shoulders slumped and his head perpetually lowered, hoping the entire world will let him slip by.

This would’ve been how Yuu lived out his life if not for the appearance of an old friend, Misaki. Misaki’s return to the village sees Yuu presented with someone who cares and believes in him. The first scenes with the pair are awkward but excellent. The patience Miasaki shows Yuu as she tries to get him to open up is wonderfully delivered by Kuroki’s subtle acting. Yokohama continues to deliver in these moments as Yuu, as he expertly portrays Yuu’s struggle to accept her kindness as what it is. He has been hurt so often that his suspicion of what is in front of him is palpable.

Unfortunately, after these opening moments with Yuu and Misaki, much of The Village flounders as it dives into the goings on in the town and how Yuu becomes more deeply entangled with its dealings. The slow pace of many scenes fails to deliver the tension they set out to, crafting dead zones that lose the viewer. Some moments give the movie the feeling of some form of an otherworldly element present in the town that never goes anywhere. It could be intended to simply show the fracturing of Yuu’s mind, but its presence is confusing and portly implemented if that is indeed the case.

The cinematography does an excellent job crafting the movie’s most dramatic moments. It helps enhance the strong performances of its lead actors, allowing them to deliver all they can to the film. Combined with an excellently designed atmospheric soundtrack, this brings all the tension the story can muster out for the viewer.

The final struggle The Village has is its ending. Rather than having a true conclusion to its narrative, the movie simply stops. While the final moments bear some emotional potency, the lack of a structured end leaves the viewer unsatisfied.

The Village is an emotional tale that tries to deliver more than it can. While its high points are excellently delivered, it never builds enough around them to make the movie truly come together.

The Village is streaming now on Netflix.