Kotoko (2011)

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1. 

   sammysin

   A very gruelling movie. Not something I could sit through again.
   
   I don't remember seeing a film that grated on my senses as much as this did. Bloody intense paired with a mindfuck.
   
   Well done Tsukamoto, for that I applaud you. 11 years 5 months ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   The eponymous Kotoko of Shinya Tsukamoto's film has an intriguing condition: She tends to see "double". People in her environment sometimes manifest twice, once as their normal selves, and once more as a threatening figure. These feel like more than visions, as if struggling single mother Kotoko (pop singer Cocco, but don't let that make you think she gives less than a raw, emotional performance) is dislocated from reality and seeing quantum possibilities. Tsukamoto (best known for Tetsuo the Iron Man) has these realities intrude shockingly and viscerally (there's at least one shot in there that deserves a content warning), but he's more lyrical and loving of his subject than in his more punk-experimental work. The strangeness of Kotoko's condition/ability is well chosen to represent mental illness, sure, but post-partum depression in particular. She both loves her child and wants to extinguish its life and noise. She self harms, but so she can feel alive. We have to ask, if there are two version of everyone, are there two of her too? She's a nice person and a monster. Though it sags in the middle, when the director shows up as a stalker/helper, Kotoko has a sweetness as well as a harshness that makes it thoughtful and memorable. It's not going to leave me any time soon. 6 months 1 week ago

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