My initial desire to see the Japanese Netflix film Homunculus was solely based on its name, homunculus. That's just kind of a fun word to say if you ask me. After taking part in a medical experiment, a homeless man begins to see the people around him in new and disturbing ways.
The story starts out with a feel of a psychological thriller that has some mysterious elements to it. We have a character, Nekoshi, who is a loner and has a sadness to him, or at least a detached persona. He meets a character named Ito, who offers Nekoshi a ton of money if he'll let Ito drill a hole in the front of his head.
Yeah, I know, but the reasoning does make sense. By opening the skull, it relieves natural pressure in there, which allows more blood flow to the brain, which then allows the subject to have more brain function, tapping into skills, powers, abilities, or what have you that just aren't normally accessible. This story explores a lot of the themes of guilt and grief, and while it touches on these elements a little throughout the movie, as we get to the climax of the story, these themes are heavily examined, and they play a major role in the overall narrative.
The storytelling is patient and slow, and most of the time the pace felt good, even though it was slower, but there were a few times that it felt more like it was dragging rather than just being patient. Some of scenes were elongated in ways that didn't move the narrative forward, and while they could have been used to allow the story to breathe, because of the already patient pace, breathing wasn't necessary. The special effects in this were pretty unique.
I like the many different perspectives that are shown when Nekoshi covers his eye and looks around at people. The variety of imagery that comes at us is really creative, and not limiting the visuals to just one form of subject, but making them all wildly different.
The setup is a little strange, and not necessarily confusing in what's going on, but more so in the motivation, especially on the part of Ito. He's kind of a mysterious figure through a lot of this, and because of his actions, we're not sure if he's reliable. Speaking of reliability, Nekoshi may not be a reliable narrator at all. We kind of blindly trust that what he sees is actually being seen.
We don't know much about him other than he says he chooses to live homelessly, but he used to have a great job, and he still has a lot of money. He's withdrawn and kind of emotionless, but there aren't many reasons why. Fortunately, answers do come, but it requires a lot of patience to go through the narrative and experience all that he is experiencing without backstory for such a long period of time.
In fact, most of the character development comes towards the end of the story. We're actually going through most of the film with some relatively unknown players. We have some glimpses as to who they are, and then we get to know a little about them, but the majority is saved for the end, where the story delivers its punch.
I like that there is also ultimately some really good character growth, especially from Nekoshi. We watch him be stunted and almost apathetic for so long that he teeters on becoming an unredeemable character, at least as far as sympathy or connection go. But we get to watch him develop and become much more self-aware, and then he becomes a dynamic character. Sometimes, though, the visuals were a little confusing to me.
There's one portion with a girl that was weird and disturbing and just overly strange. And while the scene was going on, I was having trouble tracking what was being discussed because there's a barrage of odd imagery that I'm trying to decipher along with reading the subtitles. Ultimately, I got the gist of that portion of the story, but in the overall narrative, I don't think it was a totally necessary storyline.
While I really liked the payoff of the final act, the first portion of the movie did require a lot of me. Plus, the storyline kind of morphed from what seems to be a psychological thriller to something more in the lines of a dark drama. Overall, I did end up enjoying the movie, but because of how the entire thing played out, I don't think it's something that I'm going to revisit.
The themes of guilt and grief are well developed, and the visuals used that Nekoshi sees are unique and effective. It becomes a good emotional drama that has some darkness to it, but also redemption.
There's sex, some weirdly displayed nudity. It's graphic in one sense, but not realistic in another Some profanity and some bloody violence. In other words, viewers discretion is highly advised. I give Homunculus 6½ over 10.
Images: IMDb
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