‘I want to become a cicada’

Tomoto Jin’ei’s “Melt” is a short with two sides, much like the tennis ball on which the sister half of the sibling duo draws their parents’ faces. A short, poetic lament on a situation, this sees two young adults remain positive in a bleak situation.

A nameless brother and sister are approaching adulthood, yet seem to laze their days, while their parents are out for long hours, working or partying; only ever arguing when both are at home. This has become a house without love, as the parents’ stresses are deflected on to each other and their children. The siblings, therefore, spend the hot summer days lounging around, playing, but also enjoying each other’s company when out of the house. Home is where the hatred is.

With some beautiful cinematography, this is a film where the outside world is bright, colourful and eventful, while home is a dark and brooding place. Jin’ei portrays a home where smiles start immediately on leaving, with sadness returning to faces the minute they walk through the door.

Drawing her parents’ faces on either side of a tennis ball shows the children both playing favorites, but a couple no longer working as a single unit. Their father is often out drunk with much younger women – a known secret – and so their mother is tired from work, but unloved at home. From the children’s perspectives, they see two adults who are constantly behaving badly, drunk or angry, and taking out their frustrations on them. They want to run away from it all.

From the parents’ side, however, they see their children at working age, but spending their days lounging around, contributing little but microwave meals. The mother particularly elicits some sympathy as her husband runs around with women less than half her age.

The theme of “Melt,” therefore, is escape, or melting away. The children want the freedom a transient life brings: live free and die young. The final scene sees them release a paper boat into the ocean. Laughing as they do, they want to just disappear. Laugh, as the world around you melts.

Review: ‘I Am: Celine Dion’ follows a year in the life of singer Celine Dion as she deals with Stiff Person Syndrome. This documentary is a heart-wrenching view where we are exposed to the singer’s struggle with the neurological disorder that has taken away her voice, leaving her feeling helpless. By the end of the documentary, viewers can’t help but feel sympathy for the Canadian singer, who has 27 albums to her credit, selling over 250 million records. While the documentary is engaging, it could have benefited from more perspectives. Apart from Celine Dion, the only other voices heard are those of her sons, Eddy and Nelson, and her sports therapist. Including more voices would have added a richer dimension to the film.

The documentary celebrates Celine Dion’s illustrious career but focuses primarily on the aftermath of her diagnosis with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition. When she says, “Music, I miss a lot, but also people,” her sense of helplessness is palpable. Featuring never-before-seen footage of her stage performances, family albums, a tour of her mansion, and intimate moments with family and staff, ‘I Am: Celine Dion’ encapsulates everything a documentary should. The film also captures a poignant moment: her having a seizure and the subsequent treatment. It’s a ten-minute moving sequence that encapsulates what the singer is currently enduring. She speaks passionately about her extensive shoe collection, while the visuals of her various dresses and her children’s vast toy collection are truly eye-popping. Be sure to catch the hilarious moment when she imitates Australian singer Sia during her appearance on The Jimmy Fallon Show.

The documentary successfully highlights the humane side of Celine Dion when she emphasizes the importance of teamwork, saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” This sentiment is evident in the scene where she and her sons record a get-well-soon message for one of their household staff. Another touching moment shows Celine vacuuming her house, interspersed with a joint performance with Diana King, which is sure to bring tears to viewers’ eyes. The film evokes sadness over the cruel fate she has endured, yet it also showcases her indomitable spirit. She candidly admits that when her voice failed her, she sometimes blamed the microphone during concerts, revealing her vulnerability.

This documentary is a gut-wrenching account of a music superstar who became a shadow of her former self due to a neurological disorder. “My voice was always the conductor of my whole life,” she reflects, adding that she had to rely on multiple Valium pills just to get through her performances. A particularly poignant moment occurs when she visits the recording studio for the first time in three years and sings a song, channelling all her pain and ensuring it sounds perfect, showcasing her resilience. ‘I Am: Celine Dion’ is a moving documentary that will be tough for die-hard fans of the singer superstar to watch without tears. More than that, it tells the story of a woman who lives by the mantra, “If I can’t run, I will walk. If I can’t walk, I will crawl. But I won’t stop.”

A trash movie approach to the zombie apocalypse clichée

Back in 1968, George A. Romero could not have known what would happen some 55 years later. His “The Night of the Living Dead” was so influential that it not just invented the zombie lore, but it also serves as an inspiration for every dude who would like to pretend to be a filmmaker. Romero used it to make a social commentary, but rules of the game have changed since. Now a pretend filmmaker has just to envision a generic zombie movie, film it with some minimal budget and proficiency and add “of the dead” to the title. The examples are numerous and of such is “Everyday of the Dead” written and directed by Yuyama Naoki that enjoys its international premiere at Japan Film Fest Hamburg.

The premise is that a zombie apocalypse ensued after an accident in a nuclear power plant. After an intro consisting of faked TV news and scientific shows, the action continues in four loosely connected chapters, covering one day each and each with “of the dead” phrase in the titles. Each on its own and all of them together remain “faithful” to the film’s title and its premise to depict the “everyday” life during the apocalypse…

Yuyama Naoki comes from the gaming industry background although he graduated from Nikkatsu Film Academy. Currently, he works as a teacher in the industry with a reputation of an “all-rounder of science fiction and horror movies”, while his filmmaking work consists mainly of commercial videos.

“Everyday of the Dead” is a genuine trash movie, and the “trash” part does not necessarily refers to its overall quality, but it has more to do with the stylistic choices. It was made on a modest budget, which can be observed in almost every artistic, craft and technical aspect of the film. Its plot and sub-plots are quite basic, the directing is functional to propel the story and the editing is focused more on covering the budgetary issues while welding one frame to another in a single scene, than on converging the whole thing into something more substantial than a series of shorts with some interludes in-between them. The acting is appropriately naive, phony and “trashy”, and so are the visual and the special effects. Funny thing is that the very interludes consisting of “fake television” elements are the most polished ones in the film, since they are largely faithful to the “originals”.

Luckily, “Everyday of the Dead” is quite merciful regarding its runtime, clocking only 68 minutes, so it does not take too much toll on the viewers. However, it is a very specific film suitable for the “trash style” enthusiasts only.