Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: #MANHOLE [Berlinale 2023 - Berlin, Germany]

The idea of high concept can sometimes rest in a low structure but the ideal needs to twist enough to engage audiences. "#Manhole" (Berlinale Special) uses the structure of a man found and yet lost. The set up seems simple enough and yet the psychosis of the structure as the film goes on loses its traction because there are simply too many plot holes to really sustain the character work. The film follows Shunsuke Kawamura (Yuto Nakajima) who falls into an open manhole after his pre-wedding party. What transpires is the changing inability (even with a cell phone) for him to be rescued and the impending dread of what put him there (real or not). While the aspect of confined space drama using communication is not unknown ("Phone Booth" with Colin Farrell did it many years ago), the connotation here is that the entire structure can be altered by the aspect of social media.

Shunshuke uses the different tendencies of the internet to play or introduce perceptions upon other people and upon himself even if he is just trying to find a way out of the manhole shaft which has its own obstacles (broken ladders, sewer elements, misread GPS). Granted there are some other elements at play that start to unravel (or rather connect) certain ideas of the story. Nakajima runs the gamut of emotions although the obviousness of some of the sequences emitted some laughter in the audience. By the time the climax comes along, it doesn't have as much power as it should though it is still effective and ironic in its own way. Some of the reasoning of the story elements really needed to be a little more ironed out but that could take away the mystery of it. The inherent set up though and how it was accomplished per se is never quiet explained and comes off vague which impacts the surprise factor of what the story/concept is trying to deliver. C

By Tim Wassberg