The film plays (at least initially) as a remake of M. Night Shymalan's too-preposterous-for-its-own-good killer wind actioner, The Happening, with drones mounted with cameras and leaf blowers taking on the role of the unseen, unsavoury menace. The target: giggling short-skirted, panty-wearing schoolgirls. En masse.
Something about multiple universes. Something about choosing your own destiny. Something about surviving against the odds. Something bloody and monotonous.
Look. Sono knows his audience. He's made a name for himself offing chirpy girls in school uniforms. Thing is, he's done it better before. Much better. He's done it before with unsettling panache. Here, despite his attempts at self-reflexive commentary, the exercise falls flat.
A cursory nod of the head to cinema and gaming violence and the slight recognition of the lack of agency of women in both those arenas (in Sono's films particularly) isn't enough to counteract the slightness of the film's ultimate conceit, which doesn't end up any more compelling than Shymalan's.
Tag is minor Sono. Something he's appears to be focussing on at this point in his film making career. Unfortunately.
★★★
Trailer:
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