I think whoever listed this as a "thriller" was going by the plot description rather than the actual film, in which an amnesiac medical student spends several months dissecting his ex-girlfriend at the University. The student is taciturn, is followed around by another, infatuated medical student, and because to have memories of his ex. And that's pretty much the movie. It is deliberately paced and at times purposely opaque.The director has at times a film students fondness for meaningless composition, notably in an early scene in which the students parents stand perfectly still and converse. This sort of statues-holding-deadpan-conversations work well in Hal Hartley movies, but they feel a bit pretentious without Hartley's humor. The opening jittery camera-work also seems like something a film student would do. This sort of thing put me off, but the movie did generally keep my interest, becoming slightly more involving and less pretentious as it progressed, and in the end I feel okay about sitting through it, although I can't say I'd give it a strong recommendation.

This film really gave me an impression and was for myself a very memorable experience.Like many others i was also quite surprised about the emotional and gentle character of this film. Before starting to watch i prepared myself for something extreme and uncompromising like i experienced in many Shinya Tsukamoto's films. But that is a good thing for this film; making it possible to reach a broader audience. And it definitely deserves it.Technically this film is superb. Lighting and camera were excellent .. and the colors ... Sound design and music weren't that demonstrative but still played, in a subtle way, an important role. Acting was also impressive. Tadanobu Asano, one of my favorite actor since Ichi the killer, was a perfect fit. Nami Tsukamoto was very scary, in a good way ;). But she doesn't have a record at IMDb yet. I wonder why .. her acting was very promising. And letting Kiki perform modern dance was for the atmosphere and art-style a very good idea.To sum the story up, by leaving all the artful details behind, you could say it is about the painful yearning for the loved one. This was extremely good implemented. Just everything, art, sound and acting supported the presentation of this yearning. This is one of those films you don't simply watch. You have to experience them.

Shinya Tsukamoto has to be one of the greatest living-directors of our time. He is absolutely uncompromising in his visions, and is one of the very few-directors who actually owns his films, rejecting most outside-financing. The results are always spectacular, and undiluted by the money people who constantly ruin the projects they fund. It must be a heavy-burden to shoulder all of the praise and the blame, as Tsukamoto often acts as producer, writer, actor, cinematographer (as with his "Bullet Ballet"), and even film-editor. The man is unstoppable, like many of his film-protagonists, and he is a testament to the power of discipline. Even Takashi Miike admits he's an admirer and will never top Tsukamoto.This tale was created entirely by Tsukamoto, and certainly has elements of autobiography to it, and he continues his theme of the desensitizing-nature of urban life in all its mind-numbing routines. Again, his characters are attempting to punch-through the drudgery to a more-fulfilling life. Sometimes they succeed. The story concerns a medical student named Hiroshi who has suffered amnesia in a car-accident. His lover was killed in this accident. He returns to live-with his parents, who he doesn't remember--in-fact, he has forgotten his past entirely. One day, he discovers one of his old anatomy-textbooks hidden-away, and decides to return to medical school. He also finds many drawings he did before the accident. Over-time, it becomes clear that he once wanted to be an artist, and felt-pressured by his parents to be a doctor. Returning to medical school, Hiroshi rapidly-excels and reaches the dissection-stage of his education. There is a problem--the cadaver is his lover...This is lyrical-art, nothing-less. The makeup of the cadavers is astonishing, and was done with plastic-molding and latex. It looks entirely-real. As Hiroshi delves-deeper into the body of his dead-lover, he remembers more-and-more of what happened before the accident. So, if you like grue and gore, you'll like THAT part of this film, just don't expect viscera and fluids everywhere. Vital is more cerebral than that, and this is not a gorefest, there is meaning to this. There is a confrontation-with-mortality here that Americans are incapable of creating in our culture, but it also says that the dead speak to us. We just never listen. If I tell you more, it will only ruin your curiosity and the viewing-experience, which is best experienced virginal. This is a story of discovery, and identity. It is the essence of being-human, and being empathetic and caring. It also celebrates the beauty of the human-body in ways I never imagined, a visual-feast.The Tartan DVD couldn't be any-better. The image-quality is superb, as is the audio (DTS, and stereo-versions are very-active). While this is a film that lasts a mere 80-minutes, it is a very full-experience, and the added-features on the DVD are great, including an audio-commentary by Miike and Tsukamotot-scholar, Tom Mes, interviews, and more. So, gorehounds, this is a beautiful film with some very deep-meaning about what it is to be human and caring. Correct, gorehounds will be bored, but who cares? This is high-art by a totally independent filmmaker, it doesn't get much-better than this.

This movie was a strange experience, I started watching what I thought was a horror movie and ended up watching a tough "hard to swallow drama".This movie should get, at least, 7 stars for originality! I never saw anything like it. The idea was genuine, the characters were creative and the set was very appropriate and perfectly matched every scene. It has a great photography, high quality images with nice shooting angles helping and transmitting the feelings and emotions connected with each character. From the technical point of view the only inferior element was the soundtrack, which didn't quite caught my ear.However, the plot and its progression is a total different subject! I had a hard time understanding where the flashbacks ended and started and this movie has lots of them! Then, the main character's individuality was very peculiar, I mean, too peculiar, it just turned my head around and made it very hard to understand what was going on, what was he feeling and, thus, where the movie was going... Depressive thoughts and activities are splattered all over the movie, the main character has a hard time distinguishing reality, imagination, memories and dreams, and so do we...From a subjective point of view, the movies theme was too depressing and it's just not my style. From an objective point of view, the plot could have been delivered in a more proper way.In spite of all flaws, the movie did entertain me and I couldn't leave my sofa until I knew how this confusing and strange movie would end.