Review of The Outsider (2018) by Justin D — 25 Jan 2019

I get the critiques of lack of character development. That's totally legit. But the whole film Jives with the spirit of minimalism and Zen in Japanese culture. It's an experience for the senses, and showcases 1950s Japan beautifully. Yes it's a cliche story. But I look at it more like only a few important plot moves happen and it's about how they look when they happen. It's almost like vignettes rather than a movie.

I also hear the criticisms of relationships in the movie lacking motive or back story. That is one way to look at it. But if you think, rather, as I do, that the film was going for a zen cinematic sensory experience, then the why's don't matter much because you are so focused on the intensity of the moment. The film uses light and sound in Interesting ways...Filming the beginning of the sumo Match with no SFX and slowly fading them in was brilliant I thought and drew attention to the beauty of sumo and the cultural sport itself. It's entrancing.

As for the criticism that Nick was vacant or lifeless in the eyes...I think that was totally the point was that he just embraced this stone cold killer yakuza guy within, totally abandoned his prior identity and turned into a total badass.

So to summarise, I get all the criticism, if you're not feeling visual and you'd prefer better dialogue or scripting, I get it. But I can't get enough of this Movie. Watched it twice already.