martin

Sanctuary

This is a kind of strange, but interesting, show, both in presentation and tone. Its strangeness comes not from the typical mangaesque story about a loudmouth gangster-looking outsider entering the world of sumo, in the beginning hating the sport, later learning to respect and lover it. Also, just like manga, we have different microarcs, each of which teaches our main guy something. The appeal and strangeness comes from the fact that the whole thing swings between different modes of presentation and tone. One moment, it is hyperreal and super violent, showing us both the illegal dealing of the leaders of the sumo world and the extreme everyday bullying that young sumo players are subjected to. And the next, it is super stylized and manga-like with comical slow-motion violence and extreme facial expressions. Kind of more manga-like than an actual manga adaptation, at times, even than an actual manga. And I kind of liked it, but only some of the time. In the first part of the show, this swinging doesn't really work, it's jarring even, because the story of the character's rejection of the sumo fundamentals and strenuous exercise seem to require more realism. They also seem to have the potential to show us a bit more about the brutality of this world, the ways living in the stable aims to first destroy the newcomer, then mold him into something new, also the role physical and mental abuse play in all of that. But by having comedic moments or stylized scenes injected into it, the show ends up kind of normalizing abuse, not criticizing it. In the second part, when we focus more on the sumo bouts, the stylization mixed with the realistic violence, begins to work much better. It's both a respite from the intensity of violence, but also a means to draw more attention to it. I suppose this is part of Kan Eguchi's style, because from what I can remember from The Fable (awesome manga, not so amazing movie as far as I remember), there were moments like that, too. Have to watch it again, though, cause I don't remember much of it. The occassional playfulness of style and mangaesque play with sumo as a sport is also apparent in the way the main character behaves. He not only disrespects the sport, but also acts like a clown while on the dohyo (the space where the matches happen) - cracking jokes, making silly faces, showing middle finger to his opponents and the camera. This, coupled with his insanely loud wardrobe, makes for a kind of compelling, or at least amusing to look at, character who is at complete odd with everyone in the sumo world. Overall, this is a pretty interesting experience, especially for lovers of manga and manga-adjacent styles of storytelling, not so much for fans of actual sumo, I guess. It's violent, funny, engaging (especially the second part), and has a pretty good atmosphere. And if I have to compare it to sumo and sumo and wrestling-adjacent shows, its much better than the vapid flower boy ssireum romance "Like Flowers in Sand."

Mattcha_97

Sanctuary

Babygirl but for dudes with a humiliation kink? Some solid performances and neat camera work here, but it gets a bit repetitive and the story doesn’t really go anywhere ultimately.

Jordyn

Sanctuary

oh margaret qualley the star you are I kinda chose this movie at random and it's the most fun I've had watching a movie in a WHILE pure entertainment would've been a 5 if the end wasn't so goofy but alas

Cherry

Sanctuary

Terribly written, hated the guy's acting and character. The r slur was so unnecessary. Fantasising about his hypothetical toddler smiling at him while she's having sex with him is absolutely vile. The mention of a child during intercourse should never ever ever ever be a thing. I hate everything about this movie. Huge waste of time.