‘Best Regards To All’ BIFAN 2023 Review: A Haunting Look At Aging
Paul Le
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It was not all that long ago when the world hit an unexpected milestone: people 65 and older became the fastest-growing age group. And of all places, Japan is now home to the largest population of older people. Making this more a problem than achievement is the fact that Japan’s birth rate has been in decline for many years. So if there are fewer young people around, who will take care of the advanced elders? This continuing social issue is deeply worrying for Japan, so it makes sense that a film like Best Regards to All (Minna ni sachi are) addresses it, albeit not in the most straightforward manner. Yūta Shimotsu’s directorial feature debut is definitely not the first of its kind—films that tackle the subject of aging societies—but it is one of the first to view it through the lens of horror.
Growing up, Kotone Furukawa’s character in Best Regards to All had an eerie feeling whenever she stayed with her grandparents. One particular room in their house gave her the creeps so much that she still has nightmares about it as an adult. Years later she still has no idea what sits on the other side of that foreboding door. But on her next visit to see her grandparents, she learns the shocking truth.
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Furukawa’s character—referred to here as simply “granddaughter” because everyone in this film is nameless—has since moved to the big city like many young people. The nursing student is at first happy to see her grandparents again, and that feeling is more than mutual. Yet in due time, the protagonist’s homecoming is burdened by a terrible sense of unease. What might have been the sheer awkwardness of being around old folks, whose behavior has become increasingly odd and unpredictable, is actually her intuition kicking in.
Beneath the film’s naturalistic appearance lurks that foreseeable horror element. The disturbing revelation is made so matter-of-factly that viewers, much like the granddaughter, are at a loss for words when it finally happens. The discovery is casually exposed, yet the effect is both lasting and harsh. In her state of shock, the granddaughter runs away from home, only to learn the horror is not so self-contained. Like in a lot of genre films, realizing the threat has not only roots but also reach is terrifying. Yūta Shimotsu and co-writer Rumi Kakuta conceive a unique and dreadful scenario with so much potential for lore. However, they conclude the film with more hanging questions than satisfying answers. That ambiguity indeed makes this film more memorable, not to mention unsettling.
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Kotone Furukawa’s performance, while primarily a reactive one, doubles as an endurance test. Everything she thought to be normal is gone in an instant, and now she has no choice but to accept her current reality. The audience will identify with the distraught granddaughter as everything around her becomes more and more bizarre. The film’s supporting cast is also impressive, although with the material they’re given, the grandparents’ actors easily attract the most attention here.
As with executive producer Takashi Shimizu’s own horror output, Best Regards to All finds dread inside the home. Shimotsu forfeits a supernatural element, but the story still fits comfortably in the overlooked realm of Japanese Gothic. The film includes an ominous return to rural beginnings, goings-on passed off as folkways, and ritualistic lifestyles.
Best Regards to All handles its underlying social message with unconventionality as well as efficacy. It thinks outside the box and has grotesque fun with an otherwise serious concern. It may not offer any actual solutions, but its morbid ideas about attaining happiness are certainly food for thought.
Summary
‘Best Regards To All’ thinks outside the box and has grotesque fun with an otherwise serious concern.
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