Baiorensu boijâ (2018)

Baiorensu boijâ: Directed by Ujicha. With Saki Fujita, Kellen Goff, Nao Hanai, Derek Petropolis. Following an end-of-term school ceremony, the American boy Bobby decides to go with his friend Akkun into the mountains outside their village, to a place perfect for a secret base. On the way they stop into a mysterious amusement park. They have fun there, but are attacked and cannot leave.

“I cannot believe how few people have seen this thus far! This is a bit of a masterwork from a new visionary just waiting to be discovered by the masses.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFirst of all, I just have to say how grateful I am whenever I witness someone still making what Iu0026#39;ve always referred to as u0026quot;childrenu0026#39;s horroru0026quot;. There was a brief period of time, mostly through the 80u0026#39;s and the early 90u0026#39;s where this type of dark fantasy with child protagonists was quite common and popular (along the lines of The Neverending Story, Nicolas Roegu0026#39;s The Witches, The Peanut Butter Solution, or Nickelodeonu0026#39;s classic Are You Afraid Of The Dark series). Nowadays this a rare sub-genre, especially to find visionary gems in. Well, Ujicha is here now for those of us who appreciate it. His film definitely nods to other iconic works and products of the past, but tastefully and subtly (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles anyone?). In the big picture, Violence Voyager always maintains its own ground as its own singular thing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUjichau0026#39;s unique style of art and the way he animates it is wholly his own and endlessly stimulating. Iu0026#39;ve never seen anything quite like it. Itu0026#39;s always slightly discomforting, and then, it gets far more visceral than one would expect, which actually has the exact same trajectory as the movie itself. This appears to be done through paintings and cutouts of said paintings, then using layers to create depth, with pretty minimal movement that created a dreamlike vibe almost comparable to the early segments of Belladonna of Sadness, or something. Then, the extra magic touch, is when he uses physical gasses and liquids to add a certain life to the scenes – every time this occurs it is equally effective and satisfying. Itu0026#39;s ace.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat begins as a seemingly normal day for a bunch of innocent children quickly spirals out into an absolutely twisted little adventure. Thematically, and even visually, the movie does go some places that one would certainly not expect based on the tone of the beginnings of the film. If anyoneu0026#39;s gonna do this, itu0026#39;s Japan – and I love them for it. This isnu0026#39;t a film that youu0026#39;re going to want to show to your actual child – a lot of it would be nightmarish and perhaps traumatizing, both visually and psychologically. But, if youu0026#39;ve got a wild enough 12 year old, they might be ready for it. Not just trying to plug my own work here, but Violence Voyager matches the tone of my first fiction novel, Popping Cherries, more so than almost anything else I have ever seen – so of course I feel a natural bond with it – I love this kind of stuff! I dream of doing a graphic novel or animated film of it some day – and this is a beautiful example of how this kind of work can be done right.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI watched the version with English dubs, considering it was the only version available on Amazon Prime Video. The voice work definitely could have been better, but after the first five to ten minutes, you just get used to it. My only qualm with the entire experience was that I felt some of the voice work could have been a little less cheesy, and the audio mix in general was a little strange – I would have mixed it differently myself. There were some really cool music cues on the film score that were super buried in the mix when they could have been cranked up for vibe and effect in a lot of sequences. I did love when all the grotesque sound effects were all up front in the mix though – thatu0026#39;s always a ton of fun. Any way, I acknowledge the fact that this movie would probably be best viewed with the original Japanese audio – a solid reason for me to buy the Blu-Ray, I suppose. This is a movie I would actually love to add to my small collection.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRemember the name Ujicha and see this movie! I canu0026#39;t wait to explore more of his work. Burning Buddha Man next! Very exciting!”