Welcome to the movie melting pot y’all! I love when directors sample across continents to make something old feel suddenly reborn in a new way. From places like Japan, that usually means starting with Shakespeare. I mean, if Akira Kurosawa can make a Throne of MacBeth’s Blood, why can’t anyone else. Mamoru Hosoda has already given us Japan’s version of a French tale as old as time. Now he goes full Bard, and goes right for Shakespeare’s best with Scarlet. Go big or go home, through the depths of hell I guess.
Once I start saying names you’ll see what Hosoda’s adapting. Scarlet (Mana Ashida), is the sweet daughter of Amlet (Masachika Ichimura), the respected king of Denmark. Respected basically by all…except Amlet’s wife Gertrude (Yuki Saito) and brother Claudius (Koji Yakusho). Claudius becomes so drunk with power he seizes the throne by murder. Losing her dad turns Scarlet mad with revenge, only to have Claudius beat her to the punch, sending her to the afterlife. Instead of succumbing to her wounds, Scarlet is helped by a nice Japanese doctor named Hijiri (Masaki Okada), and decides to find her way back to the real world, through purgatory, to settle the score with her horrible uncle. Rosencrantz (Munetaka Aoki) and Gildenstern (Shota Sometani) are dead too I guess?
Lopping off an H isn’t that clever, Mamoru. However, his interpretation of Scarlet aka Hamlet’s journey is enticing. Instead of the battles happening in the real world, Hosoda taps into the essence of the story and makes the battles more internal. In this case: internal means in limbo between living and dead with Scarlet, deciding which life to live to move forward. The writer/director’s goal gets telegraphed quickly: is it better to live for love or live for hate, with Hijiri battling wills vs. the vengeful Scarlet. Overall, the direction Hosoda takes is satisfying, but compared to his other films, the screenplay feels a bit stuck honoring Shakespeare, making the dialogue between characters too broad to really emotionally land the way Mamoru wants them to.
But that’s okay, because the rest of Scarlet is carte blanche for Hosoda’s creativity. Purgatory is everything you want it to be and more: epic but foreboding, filled to the brim with all sorts of people and climates. One minute we’re sword fighting with Polonius (Kazuhiro Yamaji), the next desert bandits with guns are attacking Scarlet, Hijiri, and a tribe of people they run into, or if that isn’t working, we have literal stairs to the clouds to encounter terrifying creatures that live inside them. The journey keeps the movie interesting, as each new character/place gives us a new wrinkle Scarlet and Hijiri have to deal with on their way hopefully back to the land of the living. Did I mention all of this is breathtaking? Whether it be a vast shot across a desert, an ominous grand lightning and thunderstorm, or the color cacophony of cumulus clouds in sunlight, every 20 minutes or so Mamoru Hosoda lets the story chill and blows our minds with whatever brilliant imagery was rolling around in his head, taking it all in, then getting moving again.
So moderate swing and a miss on Scarlet. But when a great director swings and misses, two things happen. I’m a little more pissed at you Mamoru Hosoda, cause I was so on board for your pitch. But I’m also not that pissed, because I’ll remember some of your vivid animation forever, seared into my brain for how beautiful it was. Let’s get weirder and crazier with the adaptations please? Tess of the D’Urbervilles through Hosoda? I might actually like that book a little bit if he adapts it.