That's not blood in the creek. It's just a really really really large spool of red wool.
This movie turned out to be more of a fairytale than a fantasy. That's just as well; I'm not really an effects/fantasy type of person. Still, why did I even venture into this area, knowing how style may irritate me? Because, two of the main actresses Kyôko Kishida (Woman in the Dunes, Face of Another) and Ayu Kitaura (Nobody Knows) are in this picture. Woman and Nobody are two of my favorite movies ever.
For the first half or so, it's as though this is just some long short film about two old junk-collecting sisters, who are invaded by a little girl. She knits a large red sweater for herself, but screams "Must Knit Again!" after it's done and starts over. Not a very interesting story, no? The items the sisters collect are fascinating, especially the sketches they make to track them. The latter is a pretty serious piece of artwork.
After a fairly lengthy animated clip, the movie shifts into the fairytale mode. This is where it changed gear from feeling like a very long short film. Now it tells the sisters' past, a lot of from the eerie perspective of dollhose play. This tale is ambiguous and heartbreaking, and I loved every second of it. Well, with exception of a random character that takes away and returns the dollhouse.
P.S.: This turned out to be Kishida's last film, although this strictly a director/writer-type of film where actors merely had to be adequate.
