The newest release from the director of the Ju-On films Takashi Shimizu titled The Mouths graces the Fantasia Film Festival’s screens with a mindblowing plethora of unreliable narrators.
In his accustomed style, Shimizu builds a story that slowly comes apart as the film goes on. The premise is simple – four university friends go to a cemetery at night to challenge themselves to find a legendary cursed tree which can kill from a single wish. As the story progresses, the simplicity washes away and uncertainty about the characters’ sanity takes hold. When the four friends split to find the cursed tree, Ann (Ai Yoshikawa) disappears. We then follow the rest of the group trying to find the missing girl, using their interview statements as the basis for the story. Simultaneously, we see the friends continuously getting haunted by the ghost of Ann, as we discover the feuds that have been splitting the group apart for a long time – mainly, Ann leaving Shota (Rihito Itagaki) for Tatsuya (Keito Tsuna).
The storytelling style is engaging in its mystification. Through subtle time jumps, we watch the friend group fall apart, yet none of their stories match reality, which we see through the eyes of the only reliable narrator in the film – the policeman investigating Ann’s alleged disappearance. Alleged, because no other person can recall Ann’s existence at all. The rediscovery of the plot in the second half of the film serves various purposes as a narrative device. In addition to the mindbending viewing experience that is expected from Shimizu’s work, it also increases the film’s rewatchability, which can be seen as lazy when it comes to creating a coherent narrative.
Another gimmick, borrowed from the source material A Questionnaire On the Mouth by Sesuji (who is also behind the original story for KINKI (Kōji Shiraishi)), is a questionnaire that completes the film. Consisting of increasingly eerie questions such as “do you think the mouth is the source of trouble?” and “what do you think happens to those who hear this story?”, it attempts to tie the story together, which appears to be a necessity after a rushed and disjointed plot reveal.
The Mouths stays engaging throughout due to its intentionally disorganised plot and appropriately paced puzzle pieces coming together. It manages to contain the chaotic storytelling through mixed narrative styles, yet it falls victim to its own convoluted nature, leading to a distorted exposition.
