In a town where waste, events, memories, and people are buried

[Reporter Kim Hyeong-wook]

▲ Poster for the Netflix original movie <Village>.

ⓒ Netflix

Kamon Village, along with its beautiful scenery, was famous for its ‘Noh’ (traditional Japanese one-person theater performed wearing a mask) festival. However, things changed completely when a waste treatment plant was built about 10 years ago. Of course, it has fallen out of the public eye. In the process, there was someone who opposed the hosting of the waste disposal plant, was ostracized by the villagers, committed murder, and then committed suicide by setting arson, and it was Yuu’s father. Because of that, Yuu was bullied and lived as an outcast for a long time.

Yuu’s childhood best friend, Misaki, appears before Yuu, who is unable to leave the village and works at a waste disposal site due to his mother’s huge debt from gambling. He reportedly left for Tokyo and returned, where he took on the promotion of the waste disposal site. Yu opens his heart to Misaki, who comforts him with sincere sympathy, and Misaki recommends the handsome Yu as a guide to revive the image of the village that was tarnished by the so-called ‘Kamon Environmental Center Tour Program’.

Yuu’s face brightened as he went from being a village traitor to becoming the village’s hero in an instant. Her mother also seems to have come to her senses and, of course, is close to Misaki. However, Toru, who is the wicked son of the village chief and who has been bullying Yuu since childhood, cannot stay silent. He has been working with gangsters to secretly carry out illegal waste landfills to Yuu and others, and while exposing this fact, he is trying to do terrible things to Misaki, whom he has always admired. Yuu, who found out about this, explodes and rushes at Toru without hesitation… Can Yuu escape from the bondage of hell?

The latest work of the next generation in the Japanese film industry

One of the next-generation signs that the Japanese film industry can be proud of is ‘Fujii Michihito.’ He is famous for 2019’s <Newspaper Reporter>, which took aim at Japan’s Abe administration, and later directed a Netflix original series of the same name in 2022. Afterwards, he released a Netflix original movie called <Yakuza Family>, and recently released an emotional romantic movie called <10 Years of Remaining Life>. The next work is said to be a remake of <Going to the End>. I think I will often see his works on Netflix in the future.

Michihito Fujii’s Netflix original film <Village> was released in theaters in Japan in April of this year and in Korea four months later. The title has the simple meaning of a rural village, so it seems like there is a big conspiracy lurking in the village. It also seems to contain a story that cannot be told. I wonder what they are. I think it would be easy to easily destroy at least one person and one family.

The movie captures the changing history of a village. It could be said to be a chronicle of rise and fall. In a town famous for its spectacular scenery and festivals, a waste disposal site is opened as per the wishes of some vested interests, and as many people come and go, the ghost of an incident that was supposed to be completely buried in a car that was once thought to have regained its former glory comes back to life. All this town knows how to do is ask. Burying waste, burying people, burying memories…

Bury waste, bury people, bury memories.

I don’t think it would be too much of a problem to replace Kamon Village with a country called Japan. While the vested interests are holding and shaking everything, the current young generation, who must open and lead a new era, suffer solidarity from unforgivable acts committed by the vested interests of the older generation, and when the young people try to do something, the vested interests rush in to take advantage of them, leading to ultimate development. There is no As shiny as it is on the outside, it is rotting on the inside.

On the other hand, what is serious is ‘land reclamation’. The one-dimensional reason for ignoring the idea of ​​bringing enormous wealth to the village by landfilling waste is only the tip of the iceberg. If the number of icebergs exposed out of the sea is about 1, it is not wrong to say that the number of icebergs in the sea is 99. Illegal landfilling of waste carried out at night without anyone knowing, creating a scapegoat to gather the thoughts of all the villagers, and completely hiding the memories related to it.

There is a saying that in order to move forward, you have to bury the past. But that doesn’t mean you have to lie and hide it. This means that we must accept the past as having its own meaning, resolve what needs to be resolved, and accept and build on what is new and what is coming on that foundation. Otherwise it will collapse. What will happen to Kamon Village?

The emotional core of a dark and bizarre film.

The movie is just gloomy. It is extremely dark not only after the sun sets, but even in the middle of the day when the sun is shining. It is said to be an economic boom period thanks to the waste facility, but it seems to have been darkened to express the atmosphere of the village, which was extremely gloomy. Meanwhile, the part depicting Yuu and Misaki meeting again, blossoming in love, and reaching the peak of their lives has an atmosphere as good as that of most romantic movies. Director Michihito Fujii, who directed the outstanding romantic film <10 Years of Life>, stands out for his diverse capabilities.

There are masks and masqueradings interspersed, which are extremely bizarre to a non-Japanese person. Fortunately, it’s Netflix, so you can skip those parts, but it’s hard to watch. The mask, movements, words, and music are all bizarre. But ironically, this mask touches the emotional core of the film. It is a one-person play about a masked hero that Yuu was impressed by when he was young.

Anyone can wear a mask and pretend to be a hero. The problem is that people wear the mask of lies and play the role of heroes in the ideological pavilion of waste on an illegal waste foundation. It would be better if it was just an empty apricot. There is no trash and no lies. We cannot help but look into the past, present, and future. Wasn’t my past a lie? Isn’t my present, which I’m standing on with both feet, full of trash? Where should I go?

Copyright (c) OhmyNews (citizen reporter), unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited

Additional text | This article also appears on singenv.tistory.com and contents.premium.naver.com/singenv/themovie.