REAL, Surreal Japanese Film by Kurosawa

Japanese Director/Screenwriter Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest feature, REAL, is a visually stunning & genre defying film. The cinematography has a neutral stark palette interspersed with vivid color that makes for a work of art.  The scenes are so intensely colorized & crystal clear that when the scene morphs into a dreamlike state you become transfixed. Koichi & his beautiful wife, Atsumi, are a loving, adoring couple.  The film moves future 1year to show Koichi @ a hospital where he wife has been in a long coma.  The Dr. explains to Koichi the procedure for "sensing" where he will be put to sleep & "wired" so that he & his wife can communicate through their brain waves. The notion that patients in a coma are able to perceive their surroundings has been debated.  The premise of a virtual reality plane for connecting & perhaps, reviving a comatose individual is an intriguing & exciting.  The "sensing sessions" are both comforting & horrifying.  The film is highly stylized amalgamation of science fiction, horror, mystery, intellectual abstraction & romance.  What is reality & what is hallucination becomes indistinguishable.  Scenes of decay & abandoned construction recur throughout the film adding to the  sense of isolation & despair.  The boundary between drama & comedy are also blurred. This unique film by one of the great contemporary film makers is eerie, macabre & remarkable.  However, the 2 1/2 hour length transforms this iridescent film into a laughable, anti-climatic ending.