The Sea of Trees: Gus Van Sant Stumbles Around Aokigahara

Yet again, another film dramatizes the dangers posed to humanity by forests, yet refuses to take up the cause of deforestation. In this case, those woods are truly lethal. We are talking about the Aokigahara forest below Mount Fuji, considered the world’s top suicide destination site (previously seen in the horror movie, The Forest). An American has come to do what depressed people do here, but a New Agey woo-woo encounter might change his mind in Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

If you are in this movie, you probably don’t have much to live for. Arthur Brennan certainly feels that way, at least initially. As we learn during an interminable series of flashbacks, Brennan is wracked with guilt over the death of his wife Joan, even though she was a real pill up until she was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Frankly, his suicidal despair just doesn’t follow from the long agonizing scenes of marital discord Van Sant mercilessly inflicts on his viewers.

However, just as Brennan is about to put the audience out of its misery, he stumbles across the badly wounded Takumi Nakamura, a laid-off salaryman, who entered the forest with similar intentions. With their survival instincts kicking in, Brennan and Nakamura will work together to weather the harsh elements and hopefully find their way out of the supernaturally dense woods.

Actually, the film sort of perks up during the survivalist second act, but it eventually descends into a maudlin orgy of on-the-nose symbolism and eye-rolling sentimentality. Is there really a Nakamura with Brennan or is he a psychological projection or maybe even a helpful spirit? Oh, but it is so ambiguous.

So basically, Sea of Trees is Swiss Army Man without the fart jokes. No question about it, the best thing about the film are the trees, which cinematographer Kasper Tuxen’s wide angles manage to make look both serene and sinister. Matthew McConaughey struggles valiantly, wisely taking an understated approach to the overwrought material on his plate, but it is a losing effort. As Nakamura, Ken Watanabe looks like he is counting the seconds until he can leave the dank, muddy forest. In her not so brief scenes as Joan Brennan, Naomi Watts seems to be auditioning for a revival August: Osage County, but she is still a thousand times more subtle and reserved than Meryl Streep. Yet perhaps most baffling, emerging Japanese star Hyunri (who was absolutely revelatory in The Voice of Water) has a throwaway walk-on-cameo as a flight attendant.

Sea is one of those films whose unforgiving reception at Cannes has given it a notorious vibe. All the ruckus tomato-throwing often creates a perversely sympathetic climate among domestic critics for such films (like Only God Forgives), until we get a chance to see them. Granted, Sea is not wildly offensive, but the Cannes press corps still wasn’t far wrong. Not recommended, The Sea of Trees opens today (8/26) in New York, at the Village East.

The Forest: What Happens in the Aokigahara Stays in the Aokigahara

Japan’s Aokigahara Forest has long been one of the world’s top suicide sites. Some estimate it ranks just below the Golden Gate and Nanjing Yangtze River Bridges as a final ending place. It is hard to say for sure, because many lost souls enter with the intention of never being found. Unfortunately, it seems Sara Price’s twin sister Jess was one of them. It has been five days since she walked in the woods. Generally, that is more than sufficient time to conclude the worst, but Price feels she is still alive through their twinster connection. She will duly go into the notorious woods after her in Jason Zada’s The Forest (trailer here), which opens today nationwide.

For years, the Price sisters only had each other, but Sara has since married Rob. He is usually a stable lump of husband material, but he often loses patience with Jess’s drama. However, Price understands her sister has always had a greater affinity for the dark side and therefore makes greater allowances. After freaking out everyone at the school where Jess taught English (or teaches, if we share her optimism), Price retraces her sister’s steps to Aokigahara, the destination of their recent field trip that now looks rather ill-conceived.

Finding Jess will be difficult, even assuming she wants to be found. It’s like a forest in there. Yet, Price seems to have good fortune when an aspiring American journalist and an off-the-books guide agree to accompany her into the woods. At least Meryl Streep isn’t in there, so how bad can it get?

Real bad, of course. Michi is a decent fellow, but the local knows enough to be scared of the forest. There is no way he will spend the night out there. Aiden on the other hand, is more than game. Inevitably, Price starts to suspect the hipster expat had a hand in Jess’s disappearance. By this time, her mind has obviously been clouded by the forest’s malevolent power, but that does not mean she is wrong about Aiden.

The Forest is not dazzlingly original by any stretch, but it is cool to see Zada incorporate a lot of J-Horror influences without getting slavish in his homages. Zada taps into the Aokigahara folklore rather effectively, even if the film was shot in the Balkans rather than Japan, judging from all the Serbian names in the credits. He also profitably invests a good measure of time exploring the Price Twins’ respective psychological hang-ups.

Nobody will be working to remind Academy voters about Natalie Dormer’s performance this time next year, but she is not bad at all playing the twins. Frankly, the extent to which she glams down might be what is most impressive. Most of the time, it looks like she is uncomfortably damp and her feet are hurting her. Conversely, Taylor Kinney’s Aiden never comes across as particularly trustworthy or outdoorsy, so it is hard to understand why Price ever thought he would be good to have around. Most of the Japanese cast serve in helper roles, including Yukiyoshi Ozawa’s Michi, but Rina Takasaki nicely covers both ends of the horror movie spectrum as the mysterious lost schoolgirl, Hoshiko.

It seems foolish to belabor The Forest’s shortcomings in a week when the nasty gristle of Uwe Boll-produced zombie ugliness called Anger of the Dead also opens. Although it basically ranks alongside middling Blumhouse productions, a good deal of style went into The Forest, including Bear McCreary’s evocative score. Even casual genre fans will have seen far worse. Not classic, but presentably distracting, The Forest opens in theaters today (1/8), including the AMC Empire in New York.