User reviews

This is quite an unknown film, in fact I know of no one who has actually even heard of this let alone seen it. Therefore, I'm braving new territory. I'm pleased to report that this is exceptional filmmaking. A young single mother suffers from a mental illness that enables her to see double, questioning what is reality and what is fantasy. Tsukamoto has achieved excellence with Kotoko. He is able to convey the solitude and disparity of a fractured mind with visceral filming techniques. The transition from slow camera movements to explosive shakiness (albeit over accentuating that movement slightly too much) highlights the violence that she suppresses and unfortunately succumbs to. There is self-harming. There are visions of horrific imagery that no parent (or anybody) would ever want to see. Yet, it's imperative that these are shown. The complexity of her illness makes her a liability, her eventual loneliness only worsens the situation and I believe it's important that the bloody violence conveys that raw emotion. You feel helpless watching her. Both the internal and external struggles of this rare psychological detriment are explicitly portrayed where all of your emotions are drained. This is a relentless drama, and I admire the personable perspective. A feature film debut for singer-songwriter Cocco who delivers an outstanding performance. There is a stunning one take scene of her belting out a melancholic song, and I was transfixed. She held my gaze, grabbing my eyes and refusing to let go. Just masterful. The loud piercing noises throughout increases the broken nightmarish reality that she lives. The story does lack some attention towards the psychological aspects of this illness, where certain scenes do feel slightly too ambiguous for its own good. Also, a vision involving her son towards the end was too violent. However Tsukamoto's heartbreaking drama remains grounded throughout and holds one of the best debut performances I've seen. It's not an easy watch, but do check this out and give it some adoration.

Almost as difficult to write about, as to watch, this harrowing film is a nightmare from start to finish. Single mother, Kotoko is played by Cocco, who we understand co-wrote the film basing it on her own experiences. Some experiences they must have been, too, if this is to be believed. For some considerable stretch she is struggling inside and out the house carrying, awkwardly, her screaming child. The next phase seems to involve real or imagined violence upon this child. All the time the camera, our viewpoint, is skewed and uneven as the sound around deafens. And all the time the lead lady is self harming, in a big way. As if this were not enough the film's director and co-writer also appears and attempts a relationship with this ongoing nightmare, crazy lady. Uncompromising, as ever, this is quite different from Tsukamoto's other work but then I guess that remarkably they are all quite distinctive with just the one thing in common that makes them his own and makes them so difficult to watch. This is raw and desperate humanity desperately trying to maintain the slenderest grip on something the least bit tolerable in the face of rampant madness.

It's an uneasy film to watch it starts off quite shaky and gets worse as her sanity drops and the film gets very intense when it builds back up the shakiness is gone. Then everything seems pleasant and happy it has quite surreal elements and dream like scenes I wasn't a fan of the constant singing but its important to the character that she sings. There is some uneasy imagery during the breakdown sequences that will stay with you but the movie has a relieving conclusion not the happiest but the best possible outcome. The acting is top notch and you really feel for the character and her family. I didn't understand some things so I may need to re-watch not your average tsukamoto film but definitely a good drama about a devoted mother with a dissociative disorder.

With all the praise and good reviews I had encountered for this movie, I was sort of excited and hyped up to actually get to watch it. And it was with a certain amount of excitement when it finally arrived from Amazon and I popped it into the DVD player.

And now having seen "Kotoko", I sit here somewhat disillusioned. On one hand, the movie was rather good and enjoyable, but at the same time it was a disappointment and a lousy experience.

Let's start with the good parts there is to the movie. The acting in the movie was quite good, especially the performance put on by Cocco (playing Kotoko). She really impressed me greatly in this movie, and her portrayal of a woman with these deeply rooted problems and issues was really moving and impressive. And she really carried the movie on her shoulders so nicely.

The story itself is also one of the better parts of the movie, as it is a story that is deeply disturbing, but also a magnificent journey into the downward spiralling psyche of a woman with debilitating mental problems.

That being said, then it should also be said that the movie is severely flawed and dragged down by some questionable and shoddy camera work. Throughout great parts of the movie, the camera was shaking and all over the place. Yeah, it did add an element of confusion and incoherency to heighten Kotoko's distorted view of the world around her. But for us in the audience, it was a nuisance and a moment of irritation. I don't pay money to watch a movie shot in a way that makes it look like something I could do myself with my own hand-held camera.

The movie has some really beautiful moments, just as it does have some really disturbing and painful moments. There are some rather graphic images and visuals that may not be suitable for every one in the audience, and thus the 18 years of age label on the cover. But still, there are some issues in the movie that does raise eyebrows.

"Kotoko" is a beautiful and yet ugly movie at the same time. But it just doesn't really manage to stand out in the Japanese market of movies, and as hard as director Shin'ya Tsukamoto tries, then Takashi Miike has done something fairly similar, just pulled off in a better way.

If you enjoy movies that deal with the problems of the human psyche and the downward spiral of mental stability, then you might want to check out "Kotoko". It should be chiseled out once again, that Cocco was really the one making this movie watchable.

I am rating "Kotoko" a 6 out of 10, mostly because of Cocco's performance, but also because the movie does have some strong, solid moments. But in overall, it just didn't manage to fully stand out on its own from many other movies on the market.

Tormented by frightening visions, a single mother who struggles to take care of herself and her newborn child realizes that the key to figuring out how to save herself is with a new relationship only to realize her madness hasn't left her and is always close to being fully unleashed on others.

This was a fantastic effort with a lot to enjoy about it. One of the finest aspects of the film is the strength of the central character who has so much going on that she's worthy of being this kind of central figure. Being given such a strong personality, the film gets quite a lot of mileage out of her. The torment she feels trying to raise her child alone in the city causes such stress and frustration that she frequently daydreams about killing it to start her life over, so the peace and tranquility she feels being around her sister out in the countryside is a welcome relief contrasting with the cold city scenes. To top it off, she also struggles with an ability to separate fantasy from reality where she constantly imagines evil doppelgangers of those around her who often viciously attack her that forces her into a self-destructive pattern of self-mutilation and creates an overall frantic central premise here. Still, this one doesn't forget it's a horror film at its heart so there are plenty of fantastic scares here. These revolve around the doppelganger attacks which are striking and utterly haunting here with frantic editing, chaotic sounds blaring along through the sequence and a dark intent behind them rushing towards her, these scenes leave a strong impression with the feverish intent and frequency that they're featured in the first half. There's a brutality on display here with the way these occur which gives this a striking tone and feel that goes hand-in-hand with the madness she displays, which is furthered by the scenes of her cutting herself or the way she beats up those that try to get between her and child as this is quite the dark and frantic tale. While these here offer up plenty to like, the film does have a few minor issues on display. The vast majority of the film is a character study so those expecting traditional jump-scares or slashings will be disappointed. This takes it's time to tell this story, so although the horror scenes do occur and are absolutely stellar during those times, frankly the film doesn't have that much else going on. It still moves along well but it's mostly brief spurts of action followed by other scenes that focus on her madness and lost sanity so the action doesn't get featured here at all. This can leave the film feeling dull for long stretches of time to some which really is the main problem.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language and scenes of violence towards children.

Shinya Tsukamoto directs this film about a woman with severe psychological disorders. It's evident early on that she has almost completely lost her mind because she engages in self-mutilation and hallucinates into seeing evil doppelgangers that do not exist. Tsukamoto has historically made films with somewhat bizarre yet fascinating characters and conflicts. Such is also the case here as he creates a very dangerous, uncomfortable environment for the protagonist's newborn child. The narrative becomes difficult to interpret at times, but this is well shot and oddly absorbing with a unique feel. There is some bloody violence and a few shocking scenes. This is a film that will be very divisive amongst viewers, but I found it even more impressive after a second viewing.

I'm not usually one to be bothered by 'shaky cam' in say Blair Witch Project or Troll Hunter, but here the camera is constantly moving and shaking for the entire 90 minutes, rendering the film almost unwatchable, I had a headache at the end.

Even ignoring this, the movie is no great shakes, it's well acted, it's suitably unpleasant and there are moments of grim humour I laughed at; but the narrative is wafer thin and a lot of the movie really is nothing Takashi Miike hasn't done better half a dozen times before.

Anyway all I really wanted to say, if you dislike 'shaky cam' avoid this movie like the plague, it will make your head hurt.

I find it sad that this provocative, challenging film has such a low rating. This is a film about a serious subject (mental illness) that is portrayed through intense visuals and expressionistic performance. The director positions you so that you feel like you are inside the characters head and its a very distressing place to be. There is strong violence and the film is very tragic but there are also moments of beauty such as when Cocco sings and dances. Yes, the camera work is very "shaky" buy the purpose is to create a realism and disorientation as experienced by the character. If the film had been shot formally it would have lost its impact. This is not a film for mainstream cinema fans. It is a challenging and artistic piece of work that deserves serious attention.

After seeing many of Shinya Tsukamoto's films, I always found many of them interesting yet they always seemed a bit much. This film to me took all of the good from his previous work and left all the negatives behind. This felt like a collaboration made in heaven Cocco and Shinya made a great pairing. I felt genuine emotion from this film. Even though at times it may be over the top it always finds its way back to being grounded. This is a confusing film but in a good way. I don't throw 10/10 around Willy nilly but this film deserves it.

Tsukamoto's "Kotoko" is a disturbing, Heartbraking, and shocking masterpiece, with great images and cinematography.

This film describes the nervous breakdown of a single mother, who suffers from severe mental problems, such as paranoia, double vision, anxiety and deep depression.

Her mental state is shown very differently throughout the film. Her state gets better, when she sings or is near her son, otherwise she is paranoid, anxious, and self harming.

Throughout the whole film, her state gets all the way worse, represented in both shocking, and beautiful images.

Cocco's acting is phenomenal. As a viewer, you can really feel what she is going through. When she is singing in her soft and calm voice, you can really calm down for a while, otherwise you are in a state of constant discomfort.

The camera shows off her mental health in either a really shaky, or a really calm camera work.

The film has no soundtrack, but thats not necessary at all.

This film is not for sensitive persons, it shows shocking and disturbing images of self harming and paranoid behaviours. This film needs your whole attention, otherwise you dont get into it.

Story: 10/10 Acting: 10/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Camera: 10/10 (If you dont like shaky, found footage like movies, dont watch this)

Total score: 10.

First of all, when I first watched the official trailer of the movie I didn't really liked it and I didn't had high expectations about it. Eventually, it was just an average drama movie that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The plot of the movie was very interesting, mysterious and kinda innovative. Sadly, the storyline wasn't very well written, nor well-explained and it was kinda complicated. The characters were very interesting (especially, Kotoko) and well-developed. The filming location of the movie was mainly, inside Kotoko's apartment. I have to admit, I didn't recognize any of the actors, but they all did a great job of portraying their characters, especially the woman who played Kotoko. Also, it was a very intense movie and there were too many emotionally intense scenes. However, it was very slow paced and there were too many boring scenes. Overall, "Kotoko" was an average psychological thriller film, kinda complicated and probably I wouldn't watch that movie even again.

I have never, in my life, heard someone critique a movie just based off of a shaky cam or how it looks when the actors are being filmed. So why are we starting now? It's obviously supposed to be a low budget film or something they just couldn't cover a big budget on. When you watch the movie you realize that it wasn't necessary to put a whole lot into it financially and even with that being said, they still did an outstanding job of making you feel the way you were supposed to. That's really saying something. The movie was intended to be disturbing and I had to cover my mouth every once while because it did what it was supposed to do. I know people who have an opposing opinion will deny this completely. I get it. People have opinions. I will say that this is definitely NOT for young viewers because this movie is almost unsuitable for adults as well surprisingly. This is not just because of the disturbances but also because what's being done in the movie and how it's being done is all in the perspective of a mentally I'll person and you really step into this person's mind and try to make sense of what is happening. A lot of times I wouldn't comprehend what was going on, but at the same time, I DID only because I was in the room with the TV in front of me. I'm not going to spoil the movie because it really is a magnificent underrated movie. I warn you though, the acting is almost surreal and the movie feels almost terrifying as it is disturbing and kinda sad really.

The Solid Metal Nightmares collection is amazing. Tsukamoto is a mad genius. I got to this film late in my watching but I think it might be my favourite one. Virtually everything about it is masterful. I love the way it plays with surreality, hallucinations, anxiety, and just about every emotion one can feel. I felt that I could instantly relate so much to all of it, both as a sufferer of mental illness and as a human being. The characters feel incredibly real, and Cocco's performance is spellbinding. Her musical, writing and artistic contributions to this film are staggering. Her character is so tragically broken, yet has so much inner power and grace that everything in the story feels earned. Shinya's direction and cinematography have never been better. This entire film had my rapt attention from scene one until the last frame. My hand was over my mouth constantly. I gasped and screamed. I laughed and I felt sorrow. It's such a wonderful, heart-wrenching, beautiful portrait of mental illness that I found very therapeutic to watch. This film completely blew my mind and needs to be seen by everyone.

As harrowing as it is heartbreaking, Kotoko concerns a single mother struggling to raise her infant child due to her deteriorating mental illness, and delivers moments of pure terror by blurring the lines between reality & imagination throughout its runtime. A hallucinatory horror drama packed with violent episodes that erupt without warning, the film navigates motherhood, loneliness, nervous breakdowns, toxic relationship, self-harm & more with a confounding narrative that neither makes sense nor carries enough weight and leaves the viewers with more questions than answers in the end. Cocco's unhinged performance in the titular role does much of the heavy lifting here but the film as a whole requires more than one viewing to properly unearth its multitudes of layers & mysteries.