if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This Japanese film tells the story of Ginko; he is a 'Mushishi' or 'bug-hunter'… these aren't normal bugs but supernatural creatures that can affect the population. As Ginko travels he cures people who have been affected. One day he learns that Tamyu; a woman who records historic details of the bugs has been affected. He heads to help her, travelling with another man who is hoping to catch a rainbow; somethings others mock him for but Ginko understands that what he is after isn't an ordinary rainbow.Intertwined with this story is the story of a Yoki, a young boy who is looked after by a mushishi named Nui after the death of his mother. Nui cautions Yoki to stay away from a pond where strange one-eyed fish live. She tells him that her study of the bugs in the pond caused her to lose an eye and her hair turn white. It later emerges that what this story is very much linked to Genko's story.The first thing that must be said about this film is that it looks absolutely stunning with magnificent rural Japanese scenery and seamless CGI special effects that look great. The story is told at a gentle pace, some might say it is slow, but that didn't bother me. I liked how the two stories are told and ultimately shown to be linked. At times the story does get a bit confusing but not overly so and the ending is more open than some viewers would like. Director Katsuhiro Otomo did a fine job capturing the story and his cast are equally good at bringing the characters to life. Overall I certainly enjoyed this, I can't comment on how it compares to the anime as I've not watched that.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Watching BUGMASTER is akin to watching one of the great Russian director Tarkofsky's movies (SOLARIS, STALKER): one is drawn in and- if one has the patience- thoroughly entertained. At no point in the proceedings does one feel bored (not if one truly appreciates solid filmmaking or sound performances), or disinterested (as long as one has the ability to keep up with some real-time storytelling), or cheated (there is payoff after payoff and even fans of state-of-the-art fx should be satisfied). Otomo has mastered yet another medium. It would be interesting indeed to see a live-action version of his classic manga, DOMU; if MUSHISHI is any indication, it would be well worth seeing.

Already the beginning of this movie is amazing. The mystic forested mountains covered in fog, two people marching through the rain, mystic cloudy shapes emitting from the earth, a sudden landslide, all accentuated by this music. Impressive.The cinematography is definitely one of the highlights. The scenery and costumes are also superb. The special effects are simple and of low quality (except for the landslide), but yet they work out very very well. Visually and acoustically the movie is wonderful. For real! I also like the cast, especially Aoi Yuu and Ri Reisen.I haven't read the manga or watched the anime, though I was aware it existed, before I watched this movie. But I had no problem at all to follow the storyline. Yet, it is a demanding movie which only works on a spiritual level.I think a problem many people will have with this movie is, that it lacks a dramatic structure, an arc of suspense.It's not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

I am incredibly happy that Mushishi was made the way it was - calm, beautiful, moody and seemingly almost timeless. That it doesn't get a higher score is just because I'm exceptionally stingy with my 9:s and 10:s, and I feel Mushishi could've been even more subtle than it was, for example with the music and sounds: instead of using those to provoke dramatic effect, sometimes simple silence is best. I also feel that there was a little too much of forced narrative coherence towards the end, and would rather it had kept just flowing along - which it otherwise succeeded quite well at. Like the mushi themselves, for big parts, the film just is.And of course, I'm incredibly happy that things were kept mysterious, without superfluous explanation. It's interesting to read the comments of people who haven't read the manga or seen the anime though, as many seem to think that Ginko is a manipulator of mystic energies. He isn't. He just knows a little more about certain aspects of nature than most people. But that really doesn't matter, I think it's nice it's actually vague enough to allow for such interpretation.I love the final shot. Simple, suggestive and beautiful. And I love the dampness and dirt. Wandering hills and forests can be muddy.