The Diva Del Mar Enjoys the Melee Madness of Re: BORN
Epic martial arts films are a staple in the Fantastic Fest schedule and I had the absolute pleasure of watching Re: BORN as my first serving of this favorite genre. This Japanese action film stars Tak Sakaguchi, from Versus fame, and is directed by Yûji Shimomura, who also directed Death Trance.
First, this movie showcases an up-and-coming form of martial arts known as “zero range combat,” and I was able to find a bit, though not a lot of information about it online. It’s basically a practical form of grappling that allows a fighter to demolish your opponent in close quarters. It is most effective when a fighter gets really close to his opponent and it incorporate a lot of choking. The weapons used are short and stabby. It makes for some incredible fight choreography and refreshing new options for maiming the bad guys. The fight scenes are incredible, fabulous, and exciting.
The plot is nothing new, it hits every hero-with-a-dark-past, martial arts film beat. That’s okay because the story is told effectively and the filmmakers create an elegant and practical back story. The first two thirds of the film focus on building up the audience’s anticipation for a big confrontation, while sharing along the way, that Toshiro, our protagonist is a complete bad-ass. Torisho (Sakaguchi) cares for a little girl he once rescued, who is tied to his past, and he has a handful of entertaining side-kicks to provide support.
The action is truly the strongest facet of the film, and a majority of the action is condensed into the last third. It serves as a wonderful pay-off and I would have happily watched another ten minutes of martial arts amazingness! The zero range combat style allows for some ingenious fight scenes including one that takes place entirely in a phone booth. Just wonderful!
The cinematography is solid, capturing beautiful angles of every fight and adding effect to the style of combat. They do speed up a few scenes, but it doesn’t steal from the beauty of the choreography being presented. They also add poetic flare to the movie by bringing in a prophetic element, and it bring a bit of beauty & romance to the story. I will let you discover that, if you choose to watch Re: BORN. And you should, cause it’s awesome!
Thank you, Shimomura and Sakaguchi! Please make some more!
Thanks for reading,
Diva Del Mar
