The Sea of ​​Trees (2015)

Directed by: Gus Van Sant | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts, Katie Aselton, Nada Despotovich, Christopher Tarjan, Charles Van Eman, Bruce Norris, Joseph Baken, Ryoko Seta, Sienna Tow, Naoko Marshall, Michiko Tomura, Yusuke Tozawa, Abe Lee Tsunenori

Something remarkable was happening in 2016, because two films about Aokigahara appeared in Dutch cinemas at the same time. This Japanese forest is a favorite place for desperate people who want to commit suicide. In horror film ‘The Forest’ a woman went in search of her missing sister who was last seen in the infamous suicide forest. In melodrama ‘The Sea of ​​Trees’ an American visits the forest to kill himself. Both films did not run for long in the theaters. A bad omen?

Gus Van Sant canned ‘The Sea of ​​Trees’. This movie revolves around Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey). This American doesn’t like life anymore and decides to travel to Japan to end his life there. Now that he and his wife (Naomi Watts) are separated, life is meaningless to him. Book a one-way afterlife in the famous Aokigahara forest. Once he arrives at his destination, Arthur meets Japanese Takumi Nakamuri (Ken Watanabe). This man also wants to get away from it all, but the American wants to stop him from doing so.

The American Van Sant is a special director. His movies are as fickle as the weather. Next to the empty and meaningless ‘Gerry’ is an Oscar-winning gem like ‘Good Will Hunting’. Unfortunately, ‘The Sea of ​​Trees’ is one of this filmmaker’s lesser work. What’s hot! This melodramatic mess is cringe-inducing and a waste of time, talent and money. Thick melodrama is supported by a lavish soundtrack that tries to underline every emotion with a thick dollop of music. In itself it is still possible to get over that if the characters had been sympathetic or at least empathetic. Unfortunately that is not the case and even the usually charming Watts is terribly annoying as a whining kenau. Also McConaughey can’t make anything out of his flat and apathetic character. Watanabe also wails with difficulty to the finish line. There are only losers in this film that tries very hard to be touching.

Besides the lavish music, the supposedly shocking denouement that an (un)trained film viewer saw coming from miles away and the use of a terminal illness to evoke extra sympathy for undeveloped characters, the script is the biggest stumbling block of this noble kitsch. A man who goes to a suicide forest to take his own life is seized by a Japanese who wants to commit suicide and tries to stop him from doing so. The plot is too crazy for words. Van Sant took a lot of pleasure in this idiocy. The ugly acting, lavish soundtrack, obtrusive symbolism (conversations in which colors and seasons are discussed return rather conspicuously and are also indicated): this is a terrible film.