Rent Before We Vanish (2017)

3.1 of 5 from 77 ratings
2h 9min
Rent Before We Vanish (aka Sanpo suru shinryakusha) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Three aliens on a reconnaissance mission to Earth take over the bodies of human hosts to explore the world they re about to invade. On the way they steal individual concepts from the minds of anyone who crosses their path, from work, to free will, to love, leaving behind them a trail of soulless bodies. In doing so they start to unwittingly define the essential aspects of what it means to be human. The film follows Narumi (Masami Nagasawa), whose husband, Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda), becomes one of the three hosts. As the invasion grows nearer, Narumi's attempts to save humanity from extinction become increasingly entwined with Shinji's decision on whether to save the humanity within himself.
Actors:
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Directors:
Writers:
Tomohiro Maekawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Aka:
Sanpo suru shinryakusha
Genres:
Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Countries:
Japan
BBFC:
Release Date:
Not released
Run Time:
129 minutes
BBFC:
Release Date:
11/02/2019
Run Time:
131 minutes
Languages:
Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Japanese LPCM Stereo
Subtitles:
English
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 2.39:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • The Making of 'Before We Vanish'
  • Looking Back
  • Inside the Story and Inside the Characters
  • Director and cast interviews from the Cannes Film Festival premiere
  • Cast and crew Q&As

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Reviews (2) of Before We Vanish

A middling effort from the other Kurosawa - Before We Vanish review by MN

Spoiler Alert
05/04/2020

It feels like Kurosawa is on the verge of a second wind and recapturing some of his late 90s, early 00s magic but sadly this isn't it . What starts out as a very funny and quite charming comedy horror about alien invaders soon wears out itself out and becomes tedious. By the time the WTF handbrake turns come, it's almost too late. Not bad by any means, just not great either.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

Did Not Take the Concept of Finishing a Story Strongly - Before We Vanish review by Strovey

Spoiler Alert
02/11/2021

Before We Vanish, is born of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders from Mars, and a myriad of fiction of any format where friends, family and the public in general appear to be ‘taken over’ by ‘something’ and only a handful of people are aware. The classic paranoia induced fright-fest brought to the fore when the west felt anyone who was not tuned fully into their rhetoric was a communist and had communist friends hidden in plain view all around us. Although this paranoia subsided in subsequent decades the legacy it left has allowed films such as Before We Vanish and it is like to be made over the preceding years and be popular and usually reasonably successful.

The first act of this Japanese take on the paranoid invasion tale is the strongest. You are not fully up to speed to what is going on and the three aliens are introduced to show you they are three entirely different characters, despite only being human in appearance. To this end the film looks as if it is going to deliver an exciting and at least partially original take on this type of tale.

Unfortunately, the story seems to lose confidence and the story loses its way near the end, and I admit I have no prior knowledge of the source material but because of this interesting start, I found this possibly more disappointing than I normally would.

The idea of removing concepts, absorbing them, from humans, only after they visualise them, leaving them confused, sad, or even happy was a strong, interesting idea that was not explored further. The aliens were always going to invade no matter what (apparently) so there was no obvious reason or motivation for this interesting act.

The acting throughout, from my limited knowledge of Japanese culture and expectations, appears uniformly good, with no one having histrionics or demonstrative actions that were not suitable to on-screen events. In particular Masami Nagasawa is excellent as the put-upon graphic designer who is married to ‘alien’ husband Shinji and the laid back and carefree alien played by Masahiro Higashide is a charismatic and fun presence but all the acting for me was of a high standard.

The real problem comes with the direction the film takes, story strands, particularly at the end meander and suddenly become unconnected and leaves the viewer confused but more importantly unsatisfied.

The ‘invasion’ such as it was a poorly CGI-ed damp squib and the final scenes do not truly click together with the story preceding them, which is huge shame.

This Japanese alien invasion film is a good-looking, well-acted, fun and interesting story that sadly fumbles the ball at the end and is good twenty minutes too long. If the screenplay and direction had focussed on the third act and made the overall feeling less ‘baggy’ what was an okay film would have been interesting and provocative science-fiction effort.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

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