忘年之恋

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

　　位于东京的某区，山野一家三口过着富庶自在的生活。2010年9月3日，姐姐春花（青山伦子 饰）从美国归来，此前她在旅行中遭遇一场车祸，致令双腿严重骨折。弟弟幸一（中村苍 饰）是个开朗阳光的大男孩，他拿着新买的摄像机拍下了山野家生活的点点滴滴。由于父亲公务繁忙，平时只有姐弟二人在家。平静的日子并未持续太久，一丝不安便在屋子内肆意弥漫。春花发现，每当次日醒来床边的轮椅便会发生移动。为了探明真相，幸一决定在姐姐的卧房内安置摄像机，监控夜晚的情况。在屏幕前，不可思议的景象接连发生，姐弟俩似乎也陷入恶魔的诅咒中，无法逃脱……　　本片为恐怖片《鬼影实录》的日本版。

　　据日本警方统计，每年仅提交申请的失踪人口就达10万人，其中9万人的行踪可疑确认，但仍有1万人下落不明。位于远郊的一座深山丛林，似乎具有着强烈的魔性，无数人进入这里，从此消失无踪。少女茧（日南响子 饰）偶然和父亲目击一辆绑架了少女的车，父女俩一路追踪，走上了不归之途；家庭主妇真奈（桐島れいか 饰）十年前曾在林中丢失长女，如今他的小女儿阿樱离家上学后也一去不返；正在拍摄恐怖电影的新人女演员丽奈（飞鸟凛 饰）结束工作后，不得不穿越那座恐怖的森林，其中的景象与声音令她战栗不已；小女孩薰（藤本七海 饰）受托照顾邻家的孩子，可是她却遭遇了一个恐怖的人形。　　不同的人，不同的故事，同样的恐怖……

 红衣主教劳伦斯（拉尔夫·费因斯 Ralph Fiennes 饰）要负责世界上最秘密、最古老的活动：选择新的教皇。而他发现自己处在一起阴谋的正中心，可能撼动教会最深的根基。