Review for Isn't Anyone Alive?

Introduction

“How we face death is at least as important as how we face life.” Captain Kirk on the no-win scenario, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

If this film is anything to go by, humanity won’t have too much to be proud of in its final moments, although any passing aliens will have much cause for merriment. The disaster movie is a staple of the multiplex. Mankind has been facing its doom in countless forms, whether it’s meteorites, comets, nuclear bombs, plagues, killer robots, pestilence, aliens, pollution, extreme weather, and of course, zombies. Anything that a screenwriter can imagine, that a powerful enough computer can render, has at one time or another sent the human race hurtling towards oblivion, and we as film fans have flocked to these movies to enjoy billions of dollars worth of special effects, plucky heroes standing firm against desperate odds, and the inevitability of a select few surviving, and indeed prevailing, once again showing that we as a race can and will use our ingenuity to overcome any obstacle.


But what about the people who die? While we cheer the few survivors, the fact of the matter is that to make that survival seem epic, millions have to die. How do these people face their deaths? What are their final moments on this world like? Do they face the unknown with dignity, with disbelief, with anger, or acceptance? Isn’t Anyone Alive? is a disaster movie unlike any you have seen before.


It’s just another normal day at Jinsei University. In the university hospital, a young girl is trying to come to terms with a terminal diagnosis. Outside a group of students meet to discuss their thesis on urban myths, and the myth in question is that the third sublevel of the hospital is a military research laboratory. Another trio of friends are trying to decide what to do for a fourth friend’s wedding, and come up with the idea of a song and a dance. The friend in question may have reason to doubt that wedding, as she, her fiancé, and her fiancé’s girlfriend are in a restaurant currently arguing over the girlfriend’s pregnancy, and just who will pay child support, while the waiter grows increasingly impatient over their inability to order. An ex-con has just got out of jail and wants to see his sister who works in the hospital, but she appears to want nothing to do with him. A teen idol that goes to the university is the source of much gossip, and one friend helps another to the hospital after a nearby train accident. There’s a little debate about the cause of the train crash, but no one pays it much mind... Then for no apparent reason, people start dropping dead.

Picture

Isn’t Anyone Alive? gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer on an NTSC disc. The film is encoded progressively for those with compatible equipment, and it looks very good indeed. The image is clear and sharp throughout, detail levels are good, and the cinematography comes across well.

Sound

The sole audio track is a DD 5.1 Surround Japanese track, with optional English subtitles. It’s a dialogue heavy film and consequently pretty front focussed, although there are moments where the ambient noise does overwhelm, reflecting the ominous intensity of the scene. The music soundtrack is an eclectic enough mix of j-pop to get you seeking out a soundtrack CD or mp3 download. Some of the dialogue recording was questionable though, with certain moments of ADR during outdoor scenes not matching the visible conditions, and also some dialogue captured on location sounding quite hollow. The subtitles are clear throughout and free of error, although very obviously written for a US audience. The actors may say 110, or metres, but the subtitles will say 911 and yards.

Extras

No extra features this time, just animated menus, the film’s trailer, a set of weblinks for Third Window Films, and 14 other trailers for Third Window titles.

Conclusion

You wouldn’t think that a movie about death, and indeed death as such a matter of fact occurrence would offer much entertainment value, but Isn’t Anyone Alive? developed in a way that was utterly gripping and enthralling. It’s a very engaging, and indeed delightful black comedy that turns out to be surprisingly life affirming. It’s a very simple premise, what if everyone was to die? It’s a question that we usually choose not to ask, after all, we spend out whole lives trying to avoid and deny the inevitability of our existences. We all do die. We have a continuity of existence to help us avoid that fact, family and friends, calendars and schedules, history and future, and while it happens to other people, it doesn’t happen to us. Isn’t Anyone Alive? erases all of that in an instant, with a narrative finger pushing the off button for the human race. Everyone dies, around the same time, on the same day, and the film examines just how we react to that.


In pure disaster movie style, the film starts off by introducing the characters, and expounding on their soap opera existences, their petty dramas made large. There’s a mystery or two that may or may not be relevant, with the urban myths that are discussed, the secret laboratory under the hospital, and an abstract discussion of death when the news of the train crash reaches the campus. We get to know these characters, their problems and their hopes, and the small trivialities that loom large in their lives. And then they start dying.


After the shock and horror of the initial deaths, it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t just a simple, localised outbreak of some disease, that there is something far more insidious and universal at work. The film focuses on how the characters face the inevitable, and unsurprisingly, different people react in different ways. The humour comes from seeing these people face their final moments, some accepting of it, some fighting against it, some trying to hold onto their dignity. Isn’t Anyone Alive? manages to evoke heartbreak one moment and then shock with some gallows humour the next. I’d love to talk about some of my favourite characters and how they meet their maker in the film, but that would be spoiling the fun. The way it uses its Twilight Zone premise to explore its characters reminds me of a film I reviewed earlier this year called Perfect Sense, which had a similar plot device strip humanity of its senses one by one, but there’s a lot more humour in this film.


Isn’t Anyone Alive? is an idiosyncratic and dark comedy that reminds us that our time on this mortal coil is limited, and as Captain Kirk put it, how we face death is as important as how we face life. Maybe we shouldn’t face both life and death with such abject seriousness. Maybe a little silliness wouldn’t be misplaced. I wouldn’t mind leaving this plane with a little absurdity, as long as I’m not holding onto my backside at the time...