‘#Manhole’ Finds Surprising Thrills Each In and Out of a Man-Sized Gap [Fantasia 2023]

Consider your favourite film, your least favourite, and each movie in between. Each single certainly one of them was a nightmare to make and a miracle to complete. Good, dangerous, doesn’t matter. Making motion pictures is hard. Now image a filmmaker loopy sufficient to double down on that problem by selecting to make the method much more tough with a single-location thriller. One location threatens to reduce the chance for set-pieces, visible fashion, assorted characters, and momentum — you realize, the very issues that the majority thrillers are likely to depend upon. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri is a kind of loopy filmmakers, and he’s chosen this route for his nineteenth characteristic, #Manhole. You’ll by no means guess the place it takes place…

Shunsuke (Yûto Nakajima) has a profitable profession, loads of buddies, and fewer than a day earlier than he marries the CEO’s daughter. It’s a beautiful life, certainly, till one drunken misstep lands him by means of an open manhole cowl and hobbled on the concrete under. Along with his leg harm, the iron ladder rungs corroded and/or absent, and nobody responding to his frantic, late-night screams to the open gap above, Shunsuke turns to his cellular phone hoping to discover a lifeline out into the world. The police are of little assist, and his makes an attempt at sharing his location fail miserably, so he resorts to the one possibility left — social media. Gained’t somebody please assist poor #ManholeGirl?

#Manhole makes it clear from the beginning that Shunsuke is an efficient, fun-loving man caught in an unlucky state of affairs. He merely desires to get out of this gap and make it to his marriage ceremony on time, however he’s fast to govern goodwill — sexist goodwill, however nonetheless — for his personal trigger. The script by Michitaka Okada has extra on its thoughts than one man’s survival beginning with a playfully darkish commentary on the lies we inform each ourselves and others. Our protagonist proves himself adept at it, however because the minutes tick by, the query turns into if it is going to be sufficient to save lots of his life.

The trail to that reply is a bit messy at instances as each the movie and Shunsuke work to seek out their footing. Assumptions are made and leaps are taken that are typically extra complicated than compelling, however as Shunsuke’s state of affairs worsens and extra details about how he landed there come to mild, Nakajima and Okada steer their movie into some wildly entertaining instructions. Imply-spirited enjoyable takes priority over believability, and whereas it doesn’t fairly rise to the ridiculous brilliance of Ping Lumpramploeng’s The Pool (2018) it’s nonetheless going to carry you to the very finish.

Whereas the filmmakers behind #Manhole, together with cinematographer Yûta Tsukinaga, composer Takuma Watanabe, and others, work to craft a thriller that builds and maintains a momentum, none of it might work with out Nakajima’s lead efficiency. Viewers can’t assist however fall in along with his state of affairs — who amongst us hasn’t survived a drunken tumble or blacked out the evening earlier than? — as he cuts an empathetic determine in, fairly actually, approach over his head. His stress at lacking his marriage ceremony and his incredulousness at his incapability to get assist are each relatable emotions, and we discover ourselves cheering on his small victories and shaking our fists at his defeats.

Two extra parts of the movie demand each respect and appreciation. At the start, #Manhole may simply be the one cell phone-dependent thriller the place the telephone by no means experiences reception points nor low battery threats. It’s spectacular as hell. And second? Shunsuke’s social media platform of selection is a Twitter clone known as Pecker.

#Manhole isn’t as tight or constant in its thrills because it must be, significantly in its first half, however its suspense beats and narrative twists are greater than compelling sufficient of their creation and execution. The movie’s not-so light ribbing of social media denizens, from true crime vacationers to wannabe white knights, provides an extra layer of enjoyable guaranteeing that each Pecker screenshot earns a chuckle or two. That is finally a superb time, warts and all, and it’s completely to style for followers of movies just like the aforementioned The Pool and Mariano Cohn’s 4×4 (2019) as we root for a flawed idiot in a ridiculous however thrilling predicament.

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Movie College Rejects since earlier than you had been born, which is bizarre seeing as he is so rattling younger. He is our Chief Movie Critic and Affiliate Editor and lists ‘Broadcast Information’ as his favourite movie of all time. Be happy to say hello if you happen to see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.