Death Note (Shusuke Kaneko, 2006): Japan

Death Note is an adaptation of a Japanese Manga written by Tsugumi Ohba. I was only partially aware of this upon making my decision to see the film, I actually wasn’t even fully aware that it would be in Japanese with English subtitles, but that is nothing to be weary of, obviously. The film centers around a young college student named Light, who has found a small black note book on the ground that the God of Death has ‘dropped‘. Who ever posses the ‘Death Note‘ can see the terrifying, apple loving God of Death and has the capability to kill anyone with any sort of known name. Light uses the notebook to start killing off the criminals of the world. An anonymous detective known as ‘L’ is hot on light’s trail and fully devoted to solving the mysterious death’s that ‘Kira’, the alias given to Light by ‘L’, has caused.

The film starts off a bit backwards and also ends in a serious cliff hanger, but is worth seeing. The CGI and special effects in the film are great. At first the effects come off as a bit cheesy, but they quickly grow on you and are very entertaining to watch. The large animated character present throughout the film is very scary looking, but also at the same time funny and completely different than anything I have seen in, or would expect to see in any type of film. The story works well also, it is easy to follow but interesting enough to not require most to be checking their watches.

The casting is well done, there doesn’t seem to be any major weak parts due to character dialogue or dishonesty in performance. The cinematography and editing are nothing spectacular, but very simple to watch and appreciate. The Metro 2 did mess up the picture about half way through, but only lasted for about ten minutes. I do not know if this was a defect in the film reel or just a mishap on the theatre’s part.

I was personally well entertained and happy with this being the first film at the festival I got to see, aside from opening night. I gave it a 3 on the small pieces of paper given before the showing, but would have given a 7 if the rating was out of 10. I would definitely not stop anyone from seeing this film. There is a sequel known as Death Note: The Last Name and I am anxious to find it… somewhere.

The next and last showing is Monday, the 28th 7:45PM at the Metro 4 theatre IV. I don’t think I would recommend missing the Javier Bardem Montecito Award for this film however.

– Keith