While traveling with his wife and daughter, Hideki Satomi—busy writing an article to send via the internet on his laptop—has connection problems with his cell phone and insists that his wife turn back to a nearby phone booth.
While waiting for the slow connection to finish sending the material, Hideki finds a newspaper clipping under the phone book; a shiver runs down his spine: the article talks about the death of a 5-year-old girl named Nanà (just like his daughter) in a car accident that occurred around 8 p.m.... Hideki looks at his car, parked at the side of the road, with distraught eyes; he stares at the clock, which reads 8 p.m., and, perplexed, notices his wife getting out of the car.
In a split second, a huge truck, out of control, crashes into the car, inside which lies the little girl.
Three years have passed since the accident, Hideki has divorced, but one evening he notices a newspaper clipping on the window of his house...
Man is not the first (nor will he be the last) to be endowed with this ominous power: that of foreseeing disasters, tragedies, and catastrophes through the vision of the “Journal of Terror”; an event that is clearly derived from the “cosmic container” of information where past and future meet and coexist. But what will happen if someone tries to change the course of events?
Second film in the J-Horror Theater series (the third film, ReinCarnaTion, directed by Takashi Shimizu, is set to hit theaters here this fall).
The charm that exudes from this story (based on a comic book) is the result of an excellent script and a great performance by the anonymous actors.
While it may seem incredible at first that an Asian film should follow a “chronological” narrative, the final part brings us back to the Asian theme, presenting a series of “alternative” events depending on how the main character responds to a particular circumstance: destiny is not written, seems to be the message of the talented author (Norio Tsuruta), but it is we who decide its course.
A decadent and sad film, dominated by unhealthy and pessimistic atmospheres: but where fatalism seems to be defeated by the determination of the unfortunate protagonist.
Review by Undying1
