Nearly twenty years after breaking onto the scene with Casshern, filmmaker Kaz I Kiriya only has a small handful of films on his resumè. His 2015 film, Last Knights, didn’t fare as well compared to his debut, or even his 2009 release, Goemon, which I didn’t think should have led to such a large career gap between then and now. Kiriya had another project in the works back in 2019 as well with an adaptation of Tendo Arata’s “The Mourner,” which never came to pass, and as it stands, might not ever if its chosen casting remains or talk of Kiriya’s exit from directing are true.
If you’re looking to catch up on any of Kiriya’s work, Goemon is unceremoniously available for only half its duration on Funimation’s streaming app and so frankly I don’t blame anyone for taking the wheel to find other legitimate measures of seeing the film themselves. Last Knights is FAST-available via YouTube for anyone curious, while Casshern still has DVD availability in the states depending on where you look to snag a copy. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the first two myself only once at one point, while my mind instantly refers to Casshern as a focal point to which my review of Kiriya’s newest endeavor, From The End Of The World, refers.
It’s with this film, at about one-hundred and thirty minutes (subtracting five minutes of rolling end-credits), that Kiriya comes back to us with another rapturing new sci-fi thriller that almost echoes the kind of depth and messaging so envisioned in his first film, casting a spotlight on mankind’s cyclical entropy in the face of armageddon. It’s a revisit of sorts, minus the digital backlots and the pièce de résistance via the eye-popping hero shots and epic superhuman robot battles; From The End Of The World still takes similar creative measures as with Kiriya’s past movies, with some scenes awash with contours of white and black sprinkled with occasional color, and costumes and set pieces ranging between contemporary and 17th century French fashion, along with a more functionally futuristic look for one character.
Indeed, From The End Of The World pivots between periods of time. It’s done with a gradual approach between segments and chapters to allow for development to brew, and for the viewer to absorb everything on screen sensibly. Some viewers might share concerns with a bit of lagging, although I didn’t find myself hampered as intrigued as I was with the story, as well as the journey of the main character, Hana, played remarkably by actress Aoi Ito who first came on my radar last year with gritty crime drama, Missing, starring opposite Jiro Sato.
To simply complement Ito’s brevity as an actress taking on a character that bares such an emotional undertaking would be understating things to a degree; In From The End Of The World, Hana is a seventeen year old girl in the year 2030, just weeks away from graduation, forced to contend with living on her own long since the death of her parents at a younger age topped by the recent passing of her grandmother, and the possibility of having to forego her dreams of pursuing cosmetology in order to pay bills and make ends meet. Making matters worse is the constant bullying she has to deal with from another student who has no allusions about uploading a video that could potentially ruin Hana’s reputation if she doesn’t do her bidding.
One evening, Hana is approached by two members of the National Police Agency, Shogo (Katsuya Maiguma) and Reiko (Aya Ashina) who make a peculiar inquiry to her about her dreams, to which they learn that she never really dreams when she sleeps. As the film moves forward, Hana finds herself subject to several blackouts during which she finds herself in a dreamscape that transports her to the Sengoku era, in the throes of Mugen (Kazuki Kitamura), a vicious warlord ravaging the land and with only two companions by her side, initially including Yuki (Mio Masuda), a young girl whose parents were lost to the bloodshed. Between both dimensions of space and time, and with the consultation of a mysterious old woman (Mari Natsuki) whose answers to Hana’s many questions are rooted in stacks of books – all written in the form of living glyphs with each telling the written stories of those lives, Hana then finds herself placed squarely at the center of a massive off-the-books effort by the government to prevent the world’s end, which is expected to occur in two weeks.
The remainder of From The End Of The World sees Hana wrestling with concepts like “destiny” and questions of whether or not the future can be written. The film also explores the inevitable disintergration of discourse about Hana from the moment she’s spotted being escorted with bodyguards, to the rumors that foment following events after which federal measures are enacted based on what she learns in her dreams. Fear and chaos soon set in as Hana is confronted with the terror of being seen as a media spectacle before the masses and misread as anything but a human being, and apart from Shogo and Reiko, the only other person she feels the least bit close to is her fellow classmate, Takeru (Jiei Wakabayashi).
Adding more weight to the emotional toll of Hana’s struggle is when the movie suggestively illustrates the damnatory event that put her in the inevitable crosshairs of her bully in the first place. The moment is a precursor to another cataclysm that mirrors something Hana experiences with Yuki, who uncovers an ability of her own to deal with the turmoil, thusly adding to the stakes at hand when the last thing anyone needs is for Hana to lose all hope. This especially goes for her few tête-à-têtes with the irksome Koreeda (Katsunori Takahashi), a politician with a backhanded approach to discourse whose ties to a shadowy hooded figure that takes aim at eliminating Hana’s bodyguards may or may not be Hana’s undoing.
From The End Of The World also bares noting one other comparison as I’m reminded of the scope and scale on which Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert managed to manifest a ubiquitous, coming of age tale of love, equity and self-discovery in Everything Everywhere All At Once. From The End Of The World takes a few cues from that film as well – minus the parabollic doom everything-bagel – injecting violent manifestations as a core element to the development of our characters. Yuki’s sudden ability at one point to kill bloodthirsty samurai at random is only the ominous precursor to Hana’s introspective unfolding, at best, as a warning of what could happen if she loses her grip before she can save the world.
Unsurprisingly (and I say this even years after still figuring out some of the minor details in Casshern), not everything is explained in From The End Of The World. Just a few aspects of the movie or so stray a tad into the bizzare or obscure, namely regarding Mugen and the enigamtic old woman and why they recur in the film. Actress Ai Tominaga takes the screen for several scenes in a dystopian realm, including one where she stumbles upon a time capsule that ensues the film’s recapitulating events. There’s also the small matter of Koreeda and the aforementioned “shadowy hooded figure,” as well ad Takeru and the reveal behind his seeming physical “ailment” which humored me a little in my bewilderment. All these considered, it’s worth remembering that this film is a fantasy flick wherein not everything needs to be literal or even obvious.
As for overall thematic delivery and messaging, From The End Of The World is right on cue with its emotive intent, using the concept of dreamscapes as a malleable tapestry to convey these areas of imagery as neither solid dreams, nor memories, or even landing ports through time, and furthering its exploration of humankind’s atrocities between one time frame and the next. Leaving Hana to bare the burden of defining what these and all the rest that happens means while struggling to cope with her own unhealed scars compels you to empathize with Hana regardless of what she does next, most importantly at the end.
I won’t go as far to say as From The End Of The World is for everyone. What I will say is that I would love that everyone within arms’ reach of this film eventually will, and in its current form with no alrernate cuts. Kiriya is a particular type of director for some, and everyone is going to have their preferences for whose work they like best. I was a fan of Casshern and Goemon, and I’ve wanted to see more from Kiriya ever since.
Feeling just a little more suited as a “welcome back” than a “going away” party, From The End Of The World has a little bit of everything I’ve enjoyed about his work, including some brutal third-act fisticuffs to boot, and phenomenal performances by a cast led by Ito who deserves every chance she gets to become a bigger star than she is now. For that matter, I really hope this won’t be the last we hear from Kiriya, unless I’m mistaken, in which case, at least it’s not the end of the world…
