One Missed Call - Movie Review Example

One Missed Call One Missed Call One Missed Call belongs to the new genre of Japanese films known as “J-Horror” that has been creating waves in recent years. It follows the pattern of this genre of films of an apparently innocent piece of technology that turns out to be an evil force. Takashi Miike, the director of this movie has almost become synonymous with this new wave of Japanese films. Japanese horror movies have a distinct style about them, the pace is deliberate, there is terror and violence that is usually conveyed through graphic visuals and these movies are mostly based on stories of vengeance. However in the late '90s, the graphic approach to horror was replaced by ghost stories. Movies like Ring, Dark Water, Ju-on: The Grudge and One Missed Call focused more on creating a scary atmosphere than on gory violence. The evil forces in these films were mostly traditional Japanese spirits like the pale female ghosts One Missed Call in a way has set the bar for Japanese horror movies with a plot that is unsettling and distinctive, in that, it is quite different from the present day horror movies. One Missed Call is more similar to the ghost stories of older Hollywood films and to movies like Wait until Dark of 1967. One Missed Call is about people receiving mysterious voice mails telling them the exact date and time of their death that is to happen soon, accompanied by sounds of their reactions to the violent deaths. It appears that these messages have been recorded at an exact moment of a violent death. The story is about a young woman who wants to track down the source of these calls. The story begins with a college student Yumi Nakamura’s friend, Yoko receiving a phone call with a ring tone she has never heard before. The message is dated three days in the future with her own voice saying "It's started raining." This is followed by a bloodcurdling scream and three days later the events heard in the message actually happen and Yoko at exactly the date and hour mentioned dies a gruesome death in a train station while talking to Yumi Nakamura. A mysterious force hurls Yoko into the path of an on-coming train. Her body is torn apart but her severed arm dials the next victim and soon there is a string of murders. Many more of Yumi’s friends die terrible death in front of her very eyes. The story progresses when Yumi Nakamura decides to track down the source of these calls. Two more victims die mysterious deaths before she takes the help of a man whose sister was the first victim to die. As these two start to investigate further with the help of the few clues they have in hand, they are convinced that a malevolent force is at work whose intention is to destroy all of those it encounters.Their pursuit further leads them to a hospital where a young girl has died of an asthma attack, supposedly due to an abusive mother intentionally not seeking treatment on time. The mother, who had mysteriously disappeared, is in the end found, dead. One thinks that the malevolent ghost has been put to rest only to find that a twist in the story keeps alive the horror. A horror film usually works if there is unadulterated on-screen terror in it. Takashi here has attempted to make the film with all aspects of horror. Here he uses the cell phone as an instrument to create horror. However it is just not one cell phone, but a whole system of wireless communication itself which causes shock and terror in the victims. It is similar to Hideo Nakata's Ringu, where the evil force is in the form of a videotape. In One Missed Call one finds all the clichés of J-Horror films. But the director here uses them effectively and scares the audience with some imaginative twists. In this movie the tension is built scene by scene with the tension creeping from scene to scene. The tension builds up gradually with some unexpected twists and turns. The scenes may be familiar with fingers coming out of cupboards, crawling figures in shadows, girls with bulging eyes trembling in corners, creepy sounds. All this put together effectively create a creepy atmosphere. A number of Japanese horror movies have evoked terror using images of long-haired ghosts or train related deaths or ghosts in the shower. A death scene in this movie reminds us of a scene in Uzumaki. Takashi Miike while trying to create horror limits the appearance of the ghost to a few scenes and not until the last scenes so as to get maximum effect out of it. Also by graphically depicting the violent deaths of the victims of the curse, Takashi succeeds in intensifying the shock and the fear associated with them. Miike tries to bring something new to the visual aspects of the movie by incorporating some jump cuts that have for instance a woman clipping her nails and a television crew hosting a television show. Director Takashi knows how to create horror and scare the audience. The killings shown are gruesome, with some graphic details. Even though his style is in line with new genre of Japanese thrillers, he can be considered as one of the best, if not the best of the lot. In the process Takashi has created some memorable scenes. Two scenes in One Missed Call succeed in making the film unique. One scene shows a severed arm dialling a cell phone. This scene is reminiscent of the wagging severed tongue in Audition and begins with a woman being present on a train platform at the time she has been informed over the cell phone that she will die. She is pushed off the platform into the path of a speeding train by a supernatural force. The result is gruesome and gory but the director succeeds in making it surreal when he shows a shot of the severed arm with the cell phone still in the hand dialling the next victim on the list to whom the curse is to be passed. The scene is quite offbeat and helps in creating an atmosphere of fear and horror. The second memorable scene, rather a sequence that comes later, is of the television news channel covering live the appointed time of death of one the victims. The sequence where a terrified girl who has received the fatal message is forced by a bunch of TV producers to a set to broadcast her death as it takes place live to the world. This succeeds in creating in the audience a sense of horror which is more horrible than the evil consequences of the curse and stands out in the movie. The set is complete with anchors, a countdown clock and even an exorcist. In the scene a panel of experts are shown debating the topic with an exorcist attempting to save the girl. Miike here mixes horror with some satire. It shows how television show’s producers exploit a potential tragedy all in the name of ratings. Miike in this sequence manages to generate genuine horror by showing the ghost unaffected by the paraphernalia of television claiming the victim right in front of television cameras. The girl’s final moments with her shrieking and moaning captured by the cameras are both horrific and satirical. It reveals how television exploit situations and suddenly the movie becomes a reflection of the ruthlessness of mass media. This sequence comes as a surprise in an otherwise conventional plot. There are many more scenes that are disturbing and eerie. But the one that stands out is the shot of Yumi in front of a mirror. There is a reflection of Yumi in the mirror followed by a shadowy figure’s reflection following her. Here the camera is stationary and all the movements are made by the actors. Yumi makes slow, subtle movements and the effect created is as if Yumi is drawing the shadowy figure towards her. The overall effect is much more disturbing and eerie than the effect created by technical means such as a moving camera. Takashi’s touch is also evident in the scenes in the abandoned hospital that show a resurrected corpse chasing Ko Shiasaki through the building. In One Missed Call the cell phone is used as an instrument for taking revenge. Hence sound becomes an important factor in creating horror. The ring tone that rings before each victim receives the voicemail is a vital part of the movie. So too is the sound of the inhaler used by people suffering from asthma. Victims hear the sound of an inhaler seconds before they meet their death. . The hissing sound of the inhaler compliments the ominous mood of the death scenes. As is the case with many other J-horror films everything in this movie does not make sense. The scares are not all logical and sometimes one feels that some scenes have been added for the sake of extra fights and momentum. There are many unresolved issues and contradictions that make the ending of the movie confusing instead of clarifying things. For instance in this movie as is the case with the movie Ring the initial idea of people being haunted by ghostly gadgets, in this case the cell phone calls, gradually becomes an ordinary detective story ending with a revelation that does not have much to do with cell phone calls. The contradiction is that in the end the calls come from the numbers that is there in the memory of a cell phone in the hand of a corpse whereas earlier in the film the impression given was that the calls are from a virus. Again the ending points to many unresolved issues. Though the ending is effective in creating the surprise factor, it does not make much sense and there are many unresolved issues. For instance one is not able to figure out the relationship between the mother, the teenage sister and the dead girl. One wonders what the mother’s corpse is doing with the cell phone in the abandoned hospital. Again it is not clear if it is her or the daughter who is responsible for the horrible events. Another issue is about the young girl in the asylum. Who is she supposed to be? How all this relates to the heroine’s past is left unsaid. However one gets even more confused with the twist in the end. The young girl from the asylum is seen in the apartment of the heroine but one is not sure if she is real or a ghost. Also the heroine is seen with a knife in her hand. While this does shock you, one is not sure if the girl has been transformed into the heroine and whether she was the abusive teenage sister all along. This is confusing and rather contrived. Maybe the director has left it to the audience to interpret the ending. However the film does work in spite of the coincidences and unresolved issues. Carol Clover in her essay, "Her Body, Himself,” has made some gender analysis of the modern horror film. According to her a central female character, which she calls the Final Girl, is the centre of the battle. The fear factor is mainly created through the screams of the victims and the majority of the victims are female. In each movie there is at least one female character who is aware of the impending horror and the peril that is waiting for her which other characters are not aware of. Also according to her the killer is human and from a sick disjointed family. The victim is beautiful and the location is not always a house. The weapon used for killing is not a gun but something else. The attack takes place with shocking suddenness (Clover). Now when we view One Missed Call with what Clover has outlined we find that it satisfies all the parameters perfectly. The central character here, Yumi, is a female. She is beautiful and comes from a disjointed family. She had been abused by her mother in her childhood. Many of the victims are females here. For instance, Yumi’s friend Yoko, Natsumi, the girl in the TV episode and Ritsuko Yamashita are all females. Again Yumi is the female character who is aware of the curse. The locations of the killings are not in houses but in a railway station, hospital, elevator, etc. The weapon used for killing here is the cell phone and all the attacks in the movie are sudden. Some critics are of the view that the movie is an attack on the Japan’s total dependence on cellular phones. The film begins with scenes of the city streets ringing with ring tones of cell phones showing that Japan indeed has been invaded by cell phones. This fact is reiterated by Misa Matsuda in her “Discourses of Keitai in Japan" where she says, “The mobile phone, or more appropriately Keitai, is indispensable in Japanese society today. Take a quick stroll and you will see ………..all are staring at a small terminal in the palm of the hand”. The online network created through cell phones has been used for many illegal activities and critics think that this is represented in the movie by the chain of calls that passes through cell phones like a virus. In conclusion it can be said that even though One Missed Call belongs to the genre of Japanese teen ghost stories that has been overdone and overexposed, Takashi’s movie yet manages to entertain. The plot of the movie that of young Japanese receiving calls from themselves of their future impending death and then dying at the informed date and time is an interesting plot and the movie has the unique touches and the signature style of Takashi. One Missed Call is an extraordinary horror film. There is not much of emotional intensity but there is a good dose of shock and horror and is unlike most Asian horror movies that are slow paced. There is a good plot, unexpected twists and turns and what is most important the film’s visuals are exceptionally stunning. The director surpasses here all the previous J Horror movies with his graphic depiction of terror and destruction cause by curses. All said and done Takashi’s movie will surely inspire other directors to attempt making this genre of movies. The ending of the movie that can be interpreted in multiple ways is also typical of Takashi. He likes to confuse the audience. Just when one begins to think he has understood and that everything is clear Takashi brings in a twist that leaves one confused. The ending is ambiguous leaving many issues unresolved. One gets a feeling that the evil is still alive even though the images shown suggests happiness. As Steve Biodrowski (2007) says, “Film ends on an ambiguous note, with evil apparently alive and well, but the imagery (a friendly smile, a bright blue sky) suggesting a happy – if temporary – truce”. References 1. Biodrowski Steve (2007), One Missed Call – Film & DVD Review, http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2007/11/19/one-missed-call/ 2. Clover Carol (1987), Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film , Princeton, 1992 3. Matsuda Misa,"Discourses of Keitai in Japan", cisnet.mit.edu/pageview/4i7o9/4nmgm/34 Read More