Chapo Trap House - Movie Mindset 07 Teaser - Talking Kurosawa's "Bright Future"

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Will, Hesse and Brendan James discuss Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2002 film Bright Future. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

I think the documentary style of this and the grainy cuts the video at certain point. I think it's really interesting in terms of when this movie begins to introduce elements of magical realism. Because it really fulks with your perception of when Areda's ghost shows up for the first time. It really fulks with your perception of what am I seeing here? Because there's nothing to announce that this is a different reality or this is a dream or anything like that. He doesn't do that, which is great. And it's part of what makes Chris I was movies interesting and creepy is that it's, again, it's like with the violence, it's matter of fact.

He's just in the room now. You know he's dead, but I'm not announcing that. I'm not going into ghost vision or, you know, having some kind of transition. But then it goes also affects physical reality as well. Yep. Yep. Like he fucks up, he fucks up their brain shrimp operation. Yeah.

Yeah. And the, but in the beginning, one thing that stuck out to me now, long before parasite, this is a movie about being so fed up with your boss that you just killed his family. It was all family. But that's all family. I think he let the daughter less the daughter. Because you have to maybe preserve some sympathy for, for Arita. But and there's another great movie called Pickpockets, which is similar as well. I'm not saying that no one had ever broached this before parasite. But the boss, as you pointed out, well, I don't know if we were on Micarov,

he's not like a super rich guy like in parasite. But it's almost worse, he's kind of like that, that small business tyrant. He's the worst kind of a small business tyrant. Like the plot really begins when like, their boss is like trying to like hang out with them. The worst thing that was nightmares is that is the worst kind of small business tyrant

is the guy who thinks he's cool and like your friend. He says give me some CDs. Let's hang out. Give me some CDs. He's from three young people. Yeah, he brings, Numerah and Orita over to his house to move furniture. Granted for free.

He's like, I threw my back out, so you guys can come over and just do this for free for me, right? Yeah, and they move furniture around his house. And then like, his wife gives him lunch or whatever, and they ask like, you know, what did you study in school? And Numerous says music appreciation. And she goes, oh, like, what kind of music? And he's like, just music.

Yeah. And then the boss is just like, oh, like, please give me a CD. Listen to your cool hip sounds. And when he, at one point, he sees Numerous on the job. And he's like, so do you have any CDs? He's like, what on me? And he's like, yeah, and I guess somehow he does. And then the boss grabs it.

He's like, he's like, he's like, feigning for it. The scene where the boss comes to hanging out at their house is so funny. Oh my God. He turns on the TV. It's like one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen. But also the way that Arita is looking at him.

Yeah, there is pretty scary. Yeah, it's, and it's like, you get the feeling. He's figuring the murder. Because like, when they first go. Yeah, it's and it's like I you get the feeling figuring the murder because I mean they first go over to the boss's house. Yeah, when they're leaving together, Arita looks back at his house and sees them

through the window of this like nice family scene of them having dinner together as a family. As you know, as normal people who fit in the society or just like they like their roles are defined, they're placed in the social hierarchy is set. They're doing what you should do in society. Like he is, he's become a man, he has a family. And he looks back at the house in this sort of

plastic domestic scene and he contests to Numerra. He says, I think a storm is coming. Yep. And walks away. And then like very soon after that, their boss shows up at a Rita's apartment. Yeah. And just like unannounced, they just like hang out with them.

Yeah. And then yeah, it has to the scene where he like just turns on their TV to watch televised ping pong. Yeah. And like for hours, it's clapping. And he's like, go Japan. And he's like, come cheer with me. He's like, come cheer with me.

He's like, you can really get into it. Yeah. And they're both sitting there silently looking at him. And they hate him so much. Yeah. And they hate him because they hate in their eyes is unreal. And particularly arena when he's just staring because I think that doesn't the boss pass out or he falls asleep or something while watching the TV or he's like sipping. He's like, you're just like, yeah. But when he's looking at him, you can see I've written on his face like, I'm going to kill this

mother. Yeah. Yeah. Real soon. And he gives him this whole spiel about like, hey, like I'm 55 How old are you guys? And he goes wow like you're 25. I wish you could have met me at 25 I was really something back then in the early 70s. I had guts back then We all had we all had guts everyone had clear goals Mm-hmm back in the 70s talking to these two she has you like have no goals. Yeah, no life And they're not they're at 25, they're not really something or like they're not enjoying life. They're not living it to the fullest.

They are just too totally depressed floating through the floating. Yeah, yeah. The first, the first indication that it's, there's some level of, of the theme of generations. Yeah. Not, not having anything to do with each other in Japan at this point, or at least in the context of the film.

I think in like, in Cure, there is this unbridgeable gap between men and women, and I think in this movie there is an unbridgeable gap between, well, perhaps not so unbridgeable as the movie goes on, between two different generations. And I think part of the social taboo that gets violated in this in the same way that like in Cure, it's kind of, you know, everyone's so bottled up and like polite. It's like there's nothing they can do because he's their boss and he's like an older guy

than that. They have to like treat him with some degree of respect and he's kind of abusing that to try and be like in crotch on the top, the only time they have to treat him with some degree of respect. And he's kind of abusing that to try and be like, encroach on the only time they have, like where they don't have to deal with him. And it's kind of like, so he kind of has violated this social faux pas,

but the reaction they have is just like in care. Yeah, they can't be equally and oppositely, just fuck off, because he holds the power over their lives. They're part can't be equally and oppositely, you know, just fuck off, you know, because he holds the power over their lives. They're part time. But even when he says, oh, I think I want to hire you guys on full time, they're like, don't know fucking way, no, come on, no.

And you think, normally in a plot point, that might be nice that they get a full time job, but definitely not a good thing. But he also, he does a lot of, he's always motion and beckoning them. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was about to say, he's a grown up. There's that scene. Is it Adriana who sees her? It's already Bucos, right? No, you know, I was about to say, he's a grown-ups. Is that seen?

Is it Adriana who sees her? It's already Bucos. It's already Bucos. Why is this? Carmelas sees her not just as a friend, but kind of as a servant. Yeah. And this guy, he's always like,

motioning them for the couple. There's that one scene where Nemora is at the assembly line or whatever. And the boss, he's just doing this for like a full minute. He's just like, and just, and, and, and, and, and, and then, and then, and and, and then, and then, but, but, and then, and then he,

he says, do you have the CD? And he, he takes the C out of his pocket and he grabs it and me, like, he's so handsy. And it's, it's just obviously, it's an exaggerate way of being like, this guy owns them. He, it's like, he owns them.

He shows up to their fucking house whenever, whenever he wants. This is what I mean about like, Chris always sort of very like, subtle but unbelievably powerful hypnotic effect in his movies. Is it the first time I saw a bright future? I was like, yeah, like this boss is not like the stereotypical evil boss. No. But as like you said, he's annoying as fuck. And I didn't know I had no idea what the plot of this movie is or where was going whatsoever. And like I swear to God, as they are starting to think it, I in my own head I'm thinking, it would be, I would like to kill this guy. I would like to kill this guy

in his wife. Yeah, I mean, and here's the disturbing thing. Okay, so like, when the boss goes to their house, he notices the jellyfish, which is a highly venomous red jellyfish. I mean, like, I don't know where Arita got this fucking thing. Well, what Arita says before the boss is even there, Numerostics is hand in and he goes, Hey, get it out. That's voices. He goes, you're mocking the jellyfish is venom. Never mock the jellyfish is venom. And then, and then, of course, the boss is the same thing. Jellyfish is hand. Some of the most, some of the most dangerous

venomous creatures on the planet. So the boss notices, he's, oh, what is that? A tropical fish? And they're like, oh, it's a jellyfish. And he starts putting his hand in the tank just like numerator did earlier. And the mirror starts to like begin to say, hey, don't do that. It's incredibly venomous. And the reader stops it. Yeah. And we just stop. So as long as you have the boss of this hand in the tank as this thing pulses and like gets closer to him. And he pulls his hand out at the last minute because he like sort of gets some premonition something is off here. He doesn't get stung.

He doesn't get stung. He's freaked out. But when he does do eventually is look up the red jellyfish and then confronts a reader about it who they're quits. And then he says to the mirror, he's like, hey, like your friend, you tried to kill me with this jellyfish. I'll get you that position soon. Yeah. Yeah. Don't try to do that again, I don't know.

But yeah, this is it. So here's the super disturbing thing that happens is that Numero, who's like the more passive one, he's like the less dominant member of the friendship, because he wants to CD back, he's sort of like in the arcade, the bowling alley where he hangs out at his clothes that night, and he wants to CD back. So he walks through his boss's house, picks out a lead pipe, kind of like somewhere to cure the friends. He's like, you're practicing with it before he goes in.

He's sleeping at a round in the street. He feels like, maybe this is the night I'm going to kill my boss. And it goes to his house, I guess, with the intention of like giving my CD back. But he's thinking like he's going to wear a suit. He's not seeing a real-life Tom. Go into the guy's house. And like as you said earlier, Brendan, there's a scene of him looking around

and then there's one flash of him seeing these bludgeoned at the body. Is there just a pulp at the point or something? In their bedroom. And he realizes that his friend has had the same idea and because he's the more dominant one, has carried it out before he had the chance to.

And what I found interesting with the dynamic is that Arita is is usually telling Nemura to come to the episode because it's like a Patreon.com slash. The one that looks prone to violent outbursts. He's the chickens to sell. Says the pieces of chicken to too small in the beginning and he freaks out. But he's in fact, the one who he probably wouldn't have had the nerve to really kill us whereas a reader cold and quietly brutally murders the boss and he was the one who seemed like the voice of reason yeah between the two and i was that for the full episode subscribe at patreon dot com slash chapo trap house

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