BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION (Japan2025) ***
Directed by Shinji Higuchi[
BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION (Japanese: Shinkansen Daibakuha, lit. 'The Shinkansen's Big Explosion') is a Japanese action thriller film directed by Shinji Higuchi and starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kanata Hosoda, Non, Takumi Saitoh, Machiko Ono, Jun Kaname and Hana Toyoshima. The film is a remake of the 1975 film The Bullet Train, the film premieres on Netflix on 23 April 2025
THE BULLET TRAIN is famous for inspiring the disaster movie SPEED, with Keanu Reeves driving a bus. When the Hayabusa 60 Shinkansen bound for Tokyo is threatened with a bomb that will instantly detonate if it slows below 100 km/h and the bomber demands a ransom of ¥100 billion for the lives of everyone aboard, the train's crew, as well as government authorities, must race against time to find the bomber and defuse the bomb while keeping the train and its passengers safe.
Director Shinji Higuchi[ shoots his film as efficiently as the bullet speed train operates, all of what may be described as formulaic and directing by numbers - all of which is not that bad a thing that time has proven - the formula works. The pacing is well laid out as expected. It begins with a description of the efficient bullet train and how it transports passengers for various reasons across the country. It is only after 10 minutes that news of a bomb is planted on the train and only after an hour that the bomber is identified. The climax involves saving the passengers. The film lacks an evil villain, and the bomber’s cause is compromised by her reason for doing the deed.
A big plus in this new disaster movie is the integration of high tech with the story. Aboard the train, an influencer is asking followers to donate money to pay the ransom in order to save lives on the train. No other disaster films have integrated social media with disaster movies.
The film, being Japanese also displays Japanese traits. When the bomber’s identity is made known to the passengers, the staff apologize to the passengers, as is customary in Japanese tradition - to be always polite and apologize. But there is always someone on the train who will blame the railway staff for anything. An argument then arises in one of the film’s key scenes when one irate idiot passenger rudely accuses the staff of not doing their work, only to be rebuked by another passenger. These little incidents add to the amusement of the disaster movie.
The addition of modern transit technology is also on full display in the film. Even if one may not be interested in the disaster scenario, there is plenty of tech stuff to gawk at. The Japanese rail control centre shows how efficient everything is, from the display of train times and possible delays right down to the exact times the trains arrive or reach each station. The staff is shown to be sufficiently trained and effective at their jobs, not to mention as dedicated as their North American counterparts.
The film also focuses on a select few characters. These include, among others, a veteran rail employee and a rookie, a well-known, familiar female politician, a young daughter and father, among others, all adding a little personal touch to the story.
The expected climax is a bit of a let-down, partly owing to the excellent build-up.
Trailer:
FREWAKA (Ireland 2024) ***½
Directed by Aislinn Clarke
The Irish folk horror film, FREWAKA from Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway) follows home care worker Shoo, who is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman who fears the neighbours as much as she fears the Na Sídhe — sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before. As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her past.
FREWAKA is an Irish folk horror movie in the best sense of the word. It is set in a quaint Irish village full of typical Irish folk, inquisitive and unwelcoming to strangers. The story is set in an old house filled with Irish charms like a horseshoe and other paraphernalia. The film is also shot in Irish Gaelic with some English, proving the point that the language, though not dead, often deals with the dead.
FREWAKA, the film title (Irish-language, like much of the dialogue) is shortened from the original “Fréamhacha,” and translates as “roots” — a concept that hard-headed protagonist Siobhan (Clare Monnelly), who prefers to be called Shoo, doesn’t much care for. Roots could refer to the past of either of the two protagonists. One is Shoo who is reeling from the death of her mother, who is did not get along with and the other, Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), the elderly lady Shoo looks after as a caregiver, her roots for isolation that lay in a disastrous rural wedding, that is shown as the introduction of the film. Peig believes she was abducted decades ago, a fact that is backed up by newspaper cuttings that the bride had gone missing after the wedding. The poster of the film has roots emanating from the eyes of a human.
Director Clarke’s film flows smoothly and coherently. It begins with a wedding. The action then moves to the present day, where, to the tune of an old Irish ballad, a woman takes her own life. Her daughter Shoo (Clare Monnelly), is a care worker whose reasons for estrangement from her mother will have an increasing impact on her mental state. Engaged to her pregnant Ukrainian fiancé Mila (Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya), Shoo is grateful to cut short clearing her mother’s house to start a live-in job looking after an elderly agoraphobic, Peig, in the remote Irish countryside, leaving Mila to continue the pregnancy alone.
The set decor is admirable, with lots of details involving Irish folk stuff. The wardrobe like the yobs wearing medieval straw masks are also scary as well as impressive, not to mention the wedding ware. Director Clarke is also adept at creating a scary atmosphere and period that is present throughout the film.
The two characters are each interesting enough, both having problems of their own, who each search for isolation but eventually find a bond owing to their somewhat similar uncomfortable past. An addition to the story involves the estranged relationship between Shoo and her girlfriend, who has to put up with her anger at her deceased mother. She cannot undreamt Shoo’s behaviour.
FREWAKA opens for streaming on Shudder on April 25 in Canada, the U.S. and other countries. Thesis is one of the better horror flicks on Shudder. It's well worth a watch.
Trailer:
ON SWIFT HORSES (USA 2024) ***½
Directed by Daniel Minahan
ON SWIFT HORSES is a slow-burn noir, characterized by the fact that there is a lot of smoking done here by the characters, about a newlywed whose life is upended by the arrival of her wayward brother-in-law. The noir drama is set in the 1950s when a man and a woman are expected to marry and settle down, and homosexuality is not only frowned upon but treated with hate, anger and violence. The film is meticulously adapted from Shannon Pufahl’s novel of the same name
The title ON SWIFT HORSES comes from the Bible — specifically, Isaiah 30:16. The verse says:
“You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore, you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore, your pursuers will be swift!”
This quote is essentially about people trying to escape something, relying on speed and distance rather than confronting what’s happening. In the context of Shannon Pufahl’s novel, which the film is based, , and the film adaptation, the title reflects the emotional and psychological state of the characters. They’re all, in different ways, running from their pasts, from expectations, from the limitations placed on them by society in the 1950s.
The "swift horses" evoke both literal escape (like driving through the desert, gambling, or just disappearing) and emotional escape (into secrecy, desire, or fantasy). So the title has this poetic resonance about longing, risk, and flight.
Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter) are the new married couple planning to transplant from Kansas to start married life in California. Then Muriel meets Lee’s brother
Julius (Jacob Elordi), a charismatic gambler with a secret past. Their connection is instant, like kindred souls. Nevertheless, Muriel and Lee set off to follow the American Dream in San Diego while Julius heads out to Las Vegas. Their paths meet, but the result is far from desirable,
The film might be hard to take in (though not implying that tit is a bad film) for a couple of reasons the slow burn being one of them. The characters are not that likable either, as they do not seem to know what they want, and they hurt each other in the process of trying to escape to a better life. Most of their teams are unattainable, mostly by both fate and their doing, which means that the audiences should be prepared for an unhappy ending.
Performances are top notch all around, especially Elordi, touted to have turned down the role of the new James Bond for the purpose of getting into more diverse roles like this one. Poulter is outstanding too, playing the rare of of a ‘good man’ as his wife describes his character in one key scene. Also added to the film’s please is the noir period atmosphere taken into the story’s setting. The film was shot by Canada’s Luc Montpellier (Women Talking) whose stunning cinematography captures not only the look of the Eisenhower era (the cookie-cutter houses, the pristine landscapes) but also the fringes of Americana (casinos, race tracks, cruising parks, and gay bars).
ON SWIFE HORSES opens in theatres across Canada, including Toronto April 25th.
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