Hirokazu Kore-Eda is one of Japan’s great film makers, but with Sheep in a Box, he has made a rare misstep. This is not a bad film, but it is a film lacking in originality, depth or the soulful introspection the director’s films are known for. It is a film that too often seems to exist just for itself. Moments that ought to be profound instead seem to outstay their welcome. This may be due to the fact the director is also the editor, and there was no secondary voice arguing for change or alternatives.
Courtesy Neon
Our story begins at some point in the very near future, where, much like AI, there is the ability to give a robot a set of memories. Here, the memories are of Kakeru, the deceased son of a grieving couple who lost their boy under mysterious circumstances two years prior. The mother is a gifted architect and the father works in lumber. There is, as such, a lot in the film about what one does in choosing paths and selecting materials, and about how you combine or separate. It is a noble idea but the execution ends up clunky.
This is because we are not given characters with depth but types and while the performances are adequate, the script does not provide any room or details for audiences to get to know these people in any meaningful sense other than what the plot calls for. The film, at times, seems to be trying to demonstrate the stages of grieving, but loses sight of what matters in order to comment on things in which the audience is not invested.
Courtesy Neon
There are, however, many visual bits of beauty and wonder. Kore-Eda has always had a splendid sense of space and place, of composition and color. Here, that is on full display, whether the sequence takes place in a forest, by the sea or in an operating room. Had the film taken care with its script as much as it did the visual aesthetic, we might have been gifted a minor classic, but we were not.
One problem here is that the film almost cannot decide what it wants to be. Is it a fable or a straight up drama? Is it a mystery? A socio-political parable? Is there crime lurking under the surface? Is it going to be a dark comedy? A coming of age? Is this about family and community or something else? The film seems to want to be all of these and none of these and so it just sort of sits there, contemplating possibilities without any commitment or depth.
While it is possible to feel for the parents, because of basic human empathy, once the film is underway, one may begin to ask what the situation really is. Were they always like this? Is this what they have become? The film avoids straight answers and while that is a legitimate artistic choice, it would have benefited from more concrete assertions. There is something to be said for ambiguity but too much ambiguity poorly handled can create a mess.
Courtesy Neon
It may seem like this reviewer hated the film but they did not. Instead, the film is a frustrating experience because it feels like a solid setup with much potential that you keep waiting for something to unfold, something to happen and give you new perspective or appreciation and it never really comes. Perhaps a little bit at the end but by then it is too late. The film would perhaps have worked better as a short, or an anthology where the director could work out these themes without struggling to fill time.
Sheep in the Box is now playing in select theaters.
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