New Religion review
New Religion lulls you into its dream. It leaves you hoping that you’ve interpreted it wrong…and the guttural feeling that you haven’t.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers
Streaming exclusively on Screambox June 20.
New Religion
Directed by Keishi Kondo
Written by Keishi Kondo
Starring Kaho Seto, Daiki Nunami, Saionji Ryuseigun and Satoshi Oka
New Religion Review
There has been no shortage of trauma-based horror lately. Recent releases The Boogeyman and Brooklyn 45 deal with their trauma in very different ways. Last year’s hit Smile birthed a demon that feeds off it. Screambox, itself, has given us a pair of recent, interesting takes on the subject in Dawning and The Ancestral. New Religion doesn’t follow in anyone’s footsteps. It drops us into a nightmare posing as a dream. One that might still be better than reality.
Miyabi (Kaho Seto) is grieving the loss of her daughter Aoi. We pick up three years after a tragic accident that Miyabi blames herself for. She is now divorced and working as an escort. When one of her colleagues disappears following a killing spree, Miyabi takes over one of her clients. Oka (Satoshi Oka) doesn’t want to sleep with Miyabi…he wants to take photographs of her. Each session focuses on different body parts. Afterwards, Miyabi starts sensing the presence of her daughter with whatever part was photographed. Is this strange technique bringing her daughter closer to her? Or is it bringing her closer to her daughter?
Some aspects of New Religion are easier to decipher than others. At times it feels like a story of acceptance, letting go and forgiving oneself. Often it feels like something much more sinister. Miyabi lives in the same apartment she did when her daughter fell from the balcony. She keeps the garden out there the same and argues with her boyfriend about changing residences or anything, really. She can’t move past what has happened and she cannot move on.
That’s the easy part. The moments we see that are clear reality are easy to decipher from the dreamlike world Miyabi begins to experience because they’re so cold and empty. A scene where her ex-husband blames her for their daughter’s death and beats up her boyfriend is too real to be a dream…even if it is dark enough to be a nightmare. The basement that Miyabi and the other call girls wait in to get called upon…so stark and empty…that’s real too.
Everything else in New Religion is up for debate. Miyabi’s ability to experience her daughter’s presence following Oka’s photography melds reality with the supernatural. Or, perhaps, just a psychotic break. Akari (who was Oka’s escort before Miyabi) certainly appears to have had one. As we watch Miyabi’s mental health dissipate over the course of New Religion we are constantly reminded of Akari’s rampage and disappearance. Is Miyabi set upon the same path? If it can bring her closer to her daughter, does she even care?
New Religion is the feature debut of Keishi Kondo. He immediately announces himself as a confident, visually interesting storyteller to watch. The term Lynchian is used far too often…but Keishi Kondo manages to imbue New Religion with the hardest aspect of Lynch’s work to evoke. Allowing the viewer into a shared dream. The distinct visual style makes Keishi Kondo’s creation purely his own. The sound design manages to match the visuals in their high quality. Satoshi Oka gives a quietly unnerving performance while Kaho Seto’s descent (or ascent) into possible madness anchors us to her world…wherever it takes her. This is a shared dream.
There is much to discuss and debate after we share this dream together. New Religion isn’t a movie that you watch to see where it’s heading. It’s an experience. An experience that you think about long after the credits roll. Something to be absorbed. Like Miyabi, the experience gets closer to us the more of ourselves we give to it. Perhaps bringing us closer to what we want it to be. Perhaps stealing our soul…one image at a time.
Scare Value
A visually and aurally beautiful film, New Religion doesn’t just feel like a dream…it questions what dreams are. Sad, dark, lonely…hopeful, beautiful, strange. We can debate the meaning of the film’s conclusions forever. Is it about acceptance or grief? Darkness or light? Existence or death? Like the beautiful, agonizing dreamworld it creates…the answers are all of the above.
4/5
New Religion Link
Streaming on Screambox June 20
