Umoregi

I just saw this film at the Starz Denver International Film Festival 2005. It was the most boring film I've seen in a while, and I even like slow paced movies. My wife fell asleep a couple times during the show, as did the friend sitting on the other side of me.

I have a feeling this film would mean a lot more to someone who understood the implications of the Japanese cultural references, like the various traditional festivals and holidays. The credits said this film was based on a book, and I suspect the movie makes more sense if you read the book first.

About 3/4 of the way through this film, I realized it's truly a film about nothing. And I don't mean that in the same way that "Seinfeld" was proud to be a TV show about nothing. This film, referred to by the English language title "Buried Forest", really had no plot I could discern. It just had a vague theme - dreams and stories.

I could imagine worse films and worse ways to spend a couple hours and ten bucks, but not many. So I'm giving this film 3/10.