Monday, June 7, 2021

Tomie (1998) sadly disappoints.

I'm very much late to the game on this, having just recently stumbled on the freakin 9 Tomie movies that exist. Why I didn't know sooner is beyond me. I'm slow... what can I say but I was extremely excited to check these out. I'm a big fan of Junji Ito's art even though I'm no expert by any means. I really don't know much except his stuff is genius, and if you read about the Tomie manga or pick it up yourself, you can see all the potential it has. Unfortunately, it seems none of the films have really capitalized on this. The first attempt in 1998 has a lot going for it or at least it should since it was made right around the time of the first Ring and it was shot on film with a good aesthetic that reminds me of Hideo Nakata's classic but Tomie ends up being rather prodding with not much to grab the viewer. It's a shame. Another issue that seems to plague all these movies is the actress they pick for Tomie never seems so irresistibly beautiful to make all the men go crazy over her, which hurts the film.