Before We Vanish

Kiyoshi Kurasawa—whose filmography includes 2001’s Pulse, probably the scariest entry in the Japanese horror wave that unleashed so many nightmares 20 or so years ago—doesn’t really specialize in a genre so much as a mood, bringing fiercely intimate stories to life in settings that other filmmakers might not be able to resist exploring on a much larger scale. Case in point: Before We Vanish, maybe the most existentially propelled alien invasion movie ever. Three extraterrestrials arrive on Earth ahead of a planned invasion, taking on human forms and roaming around extracting human concepts that they don’t otherwise understand—“family,” “freedom,” “work,” “self,” etc.—from people they encounter.

Each visitor has their own narrative as part of this journey, but the only part resembling romance concerns Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda) and Narumi (Masami Nagasawa). The young married couple is edging toward a breakup thanks to Shinji’s infidelity and general checked-out-ness until he’s suddenly replaced by a new version who’s curious, childlike, and definitely not the same annoying dickhead Narumi’s come to resent.

Before We Vanish is overall a film about figuring out what being human really means—and all the confusion, paranoia, uncertainty, joy, frustration, fear, and just utter weirdness that goes with it—but the rebuilding of Shinji and Narumi’s relationship is the heart of this remarkable sci-fi tale, even if it doesn’t exactly end in a happy place. (Kanopy)