Scarlet is director Mamoru Hosoda's follow up to 2021's Belle, and it's yet another bold and ambitious venture from the director. As of this writing, I've now seen the movie three times. On initial viewing, I really enjoyed the movie. After multiple viewings though, I was able to see just how deep the movie is beyond the surface. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to die? And what does it mean to love?
The world this movie takes place in is simply fascinating, and implies a lot without ever giving any concrete answers. Life beyond death is a core facet, heaven and hell, purgatory, but it also delves into the possibility of reincarnation without ever being explicit about it. It explored the ideas of one's soul being everlasting, and of multiple planes of existence in the ongoing mystery that is our existence, both within the worlds of the living and the dead. In the real world outside the confines of the film, we don't know for certain what lies for us after death. It's the great mystery. And even within the world of this film, that question still remains even after one dies. What does it mean to become nothingness? What lies in the infinite land? We're shown glimmers throughout, but every new revelation comes with a whole new slew of questions.
I thought the concept of a revenge story taking place in the world of the dead was quite intriguing, and the story of ongoing conflict even after death is something I've explored even in my own writing at times. And the complexities of the characters mirrors the complexity of this world. Scarlet isn't just dealing with turmoil in her mission, but within herself as well. Her chosen path is constantly challenged, and both she and her companion wind up challenging each others' ideals over the course of the story.
This movie asks what it means to be human, what it means to be consumed, and what sort of life we might have lived had we not become consumed, be that by revenge, or power, or what have you. It offers hope beyond death, and argues that it's never too late to change your ways and live a life worthwhile.
And this movie explored all of these ideas under the guise of a fairly basic revenge tale.
Beyond all that, the movie is stunningly gorgeous, but also dirty and dreary when it needs to be. The action sequences are both brutal yet clever, and the music evokes a sense of gravitas, even at its most light-hearted, such as the scenes in the present day. There's a line in the movie about how God doesn't listen to the words of man, and so they communicate with him through dance, and there's something about that freeing sense of letting oneself go in the groove of the music that's enraptured in the film's core themes of letting go and being able to forgive oneself.
I found the characters incredibly compelling, and ultimately all of the workings of their world serves to explore and challenge our cast first and foremost. The film is a brilliant emotional piece, and is a mind bender that insists the viewer looks inward, like a fantastical exploration of the human heart and soul. I'd love to go into more details digesting the different characters and their emotional journeys, but to do so would force me to great into more explicit spoiler territory than I already have, and really, I'd especially encourage for this movie to be first experienced as blind as possible.
To compare it to anything, on first viewing, I was reminded of Babymetal's Apocrypha graphic novel with the time bending fantasy story on display, and subsequent viewings have only further enforced this comparison to me. I feel much as I love the movie now, I would have especially loved it in my younger years, when I was more into my goth phase or My Chemical Romance and that sort of thing, as the storytelling definitely has that sort of feel to it. And on my most recent viewing, I was actually reminded of Interstellar, and the way that film also has a mind bending story that keeps you thinking and trying to piece it all together, a story that starts to make more and more sense the more it's revisited.
I watched the movie subtitled twice, and dubbed once. It's great either way, as I felt they did an excellent job translating the material in the dub. Either way though, I would highly recommend the movie, but just suggest that one goes into it with an open mind. I'd place it just below Belle as my second favorite out of Hosoda's filmography, and a movie that I'd rank highly even beyond that.
