Newspaper summary: "The Elephant" director Gus Van Sant's new film was booed by the media at the screening, and the film, which was shortlisted in competition at Cannes, was extremely poorly received.
"'Aokigahara Sea of Trees' is undoubtedly the worst film Gus Van Sant has ever made in his career." The US website Insiewire later published the film, which was just screened by reporters on Friday night. It was criticized mercilessly in the comments. But the views in this article by film critic Eric Kohn also seem to represent the feelings of most viewers.
With boos at the end of the screening, Aokigahara managed to piss off everyone. All subsequent comments have the same point: Gus van Sant missed this time. The famous American director (who has directed "Good Will Hunting", "Gary", "Psychedelic Park", etc...) once won the Palme d'Or in 2003 with his stunning "Elephant". There were also high hopes for participating in the competition with "Aokigahara Sea of Trees".
Indiewire, a well-known film media, specifically criticized in the comments: "Aokigahara Sea of Trees" has "extremely poorly conceived plots", "the story lacks novelty", and "immersed in boring sentimentality, self-repetitive, unable to extricate himself", "worse Stunning." Although the natural scenery of Mt. Fuji and Aokigahara at the beginning is refreshing to the audience. But soon, the audience will be suffocated by the artificial images of the film. American Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey) came to this suicide
paradise after the death of his wife, intending to end his own life, but accidentally met the Japanese worker Nakamura (Ken Watanabe) who was lost in the forest. ). The period is interspersed with a lot of underpowered monologues and long flashbacks.
The American variety magazine Variety also had similar reviews for the film. The review title: "Gus van Sant's new film feels endless and hilarious," while claiming that "Aokigahara" could be called a "cultural blasphemy" against Japan. Magazine film critic Justin Chang asked: "The Unsolved Mystery of Cannes 2015: Why is "Aokigahara Tree Sea" such a film with no commercial potential and any artistic value that can be shortlisted for the main competition at Cannes? "
Withdrawing from the Palme d'Or competition ahead of schedule
and the attitude of the French media is equally clear. Pierre-Yves Grenu, a film critic for the magazine Culturebox, wrote: Gus van Sant lost himself in Aokigahara. Of course: "The beginning of the film is very attractive, but this is more due to the unique scenery and scenery of Japan." And then: "The plot of the film develops slowly, with no rhythm, and finally ends in an inexplicable religious frenzy. I don't know where the budget is going." As for Télérama's colleagues, they agreed that the film was "not only sweet and noisy, but also superficial and unrestrained", "the script is also a mess."
Le Monde newspaper rated the film as "a first-class director's unremarkable work" and expressed concern about Gus van Sant's directing ability: "From 'The Thrilling Heart' to 'The Promised Land', Gus van Sant's S. Van Sant's performance is always unsatisfactory, and now "Aokigahara Tree Sea", people can't help but cast doubt on the director who has made such high-quality films as "Elephant"." But in any case, one thing is certain, that is, we can now remove "Aokigahara" from the list of candidates for this year's Palme d'Or.
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