Miyuki

Gripped me totally. Loved the characters; Miyuki quietly sinister, Liam the misunderstood teenager, and finally the dad about as typical as a loup garou. All appeared normal on the surface - w/lots of abnormal tension brewing away beneath. Unlike other indie horror, I wasn't hit over the head w/hamburger meat grinding away but subtly lured into a unique and macabre story. Nicely shot and the music score was excellent.

Intelligent with just the right amount of kitsch and mayhem. I agree w/the other reviewer this film should be included in every DVD rental store horror section.

We had some decent expectations about this title, since Japanese horror has been releasing some excellent titles - this movie was not Japanese, and we knew this, but figured maybe it contained some of the very successful elements and pace from such movies. What a waste of time, acting, dialogue was incredibly poor and sloppy, the photography was decent but the characters felt hollow in between the beautiful sceneries. The character's relationships feel as dull as a rushed film student's sophomore's project... Technically - and this could be my on-demand provider - the audio was very low in level and we could barely get what the characters said at some points. poor movie, very low budget - which is fine if executed properly - but not in this case, it felt incredibly hollow and again, the incredibly poor acting felt like going to a blind dentist.

Ironically, it is the more talk and less blood that gives MIYUKI its creep factor. Yuri Nanami's performance as a Japanese exchange student, living with the PERFECT cynical depiction of a Marin County, California family, is beautifully subtle and nuanced. The cinematography is down right gorgeous in composition and lighting, and the film editing is strikingly subjective and dreamlike in its pacing. Director Immanuel Martin has done a great job with the technical elements and only has some weak spots in getting consistent 'honest moments' from some of his cast. That said, "Miyuki" has the psychological tension of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and with even more back story, which is something impressive to have pulled off. The tone of the film is exceptionally low key, which only adds to the pathos of the characters involved. There is a little bit of a supernatural element included, which is wholly unnecessary, or perhaps it is a cultural reference that didn't click with me. However, that is a minor quibble. With some judicious editing around a couple awkward performance moments, the film should obtain some sort of distribution.