Before We Vanish (2017) — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
An alien film about humans.
“Before We Vanish”, or “the invasor who walks” in a literal translation of the original title “散歩する侵略者” (sanpou suru shinryakusha), tells the story of three parasite aliens who come to Earth with the purpose of invading and destroying it. Like in many films of the alien genre, they take control of human bodies and go unnoticed in the city. But in an attempt to understand what they are dealing with, the three aliens manage to steal and learn “concepts” that are intrinsic parts of what it means to be human, like “family” or “love”. And, although the film divides itself in telling the developments surrounding all three aliens, it’s the plot between Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda) and Narumi (Masami Nagasawa) that is central to the story.
Before the invasion, they were a failing couple filled with all that is good in a marital relationship: cheating, boredom, falling out of love. That is until Shinji leaves the hospital a complete different person, not able to grasp simple questions and, what’s more, he was interested in Narumi. This narrative resembles in a great deal Camus’ “The Plague”, in which the tedious city and its dull residents rediscover themselves after the plague breaks out. Narumi finds herself in love with her husband again, though not corresponded, since Shinji was still an alien who did not understand the concept of love. When he finally steals it from her, the opposite occurs. She becomes an empty vessel and he, a love-driven crazy being. Relationships are very commonly so: a series of misunderstanding and incomprehensiveness.
When asked if this was a movie about today’s society, the director answered he didn’t intend it at first, but in the end that’s what it turned out to be. “A view on modern Japan”, he said. — The director is famous precisely for bridging auteur cinema with popular genres, such as the category he got famous for: horror. Not surprisingly his biggest influences are said to be Alfred Hitchcock and Yasujiro Ozu. — Back to the picture, it’s as if we couldn’t comprehend the exact basic concepts the film talks about. Is it necessary, nevertheless, to have the Earth invaded and attacked so we can start grasping them again? I believe Kurosawa (unrelated to the myth of Akira Kurosawa)’s intention was to make his viewers rethink to themselves everything that falls between them and the aliens, and all the other humans, for that matter.
