Best Wishes to All

On a first pass, I was confused and didn’t understand much of what I saw but its spell held my gaze. Best Wishes to All is more of a mood piece than a story, with a relentlessly eerie atmosphere that’s defiantly abstract, weird, and oddly absorbing. Like Aronofsky’s mother!, it works as allegory critiquing Japan’s aging population, the burden of generational obligation, and the cultural value of wa, where social harmony is preserved at a personal cost. I wasn’t familiar with all the symbolism, but the central horror is clear: this village believes happiness for oneself and the entire family line depends on someone else’s suffering, and everyone’s complicit. The cinematography contrasts sunlit exteriors with dark, claustrophobic interiors. The film as a whole evokes the work of Kurosawa, Miike, Aster, and von Trier. The cast commits to every unsettling and buffoonish moment. Still, as the narrative circles back on itself, the repetition starts to undercut the sinister energy. And yet, it lingers.