It’s been said that several filmmakers at Venice are showing up with their “state of the world” movies. Whether that’s Luca Guadagnino with his take on cancel culture, Yorgos Lanthimos satirizing alt-right-style radicalization, or Kathryn Bigelow depicting our mutually-assured madness in nightmarish fashion, many of our most famed directors seem to be looking at a world in flux and asking: “How did we get here?”
Hosoda, a former Studio Ghibli animator who went freelance and has since become one of Japan’s most successful auteurs, is no different. His last film, 2021’s “Belle”, was a sci-fi adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast.” For his latest act, Hosoda hasn’t traveled too far from that baroque fantasy setting, which was already more idealized than the relative normality of his mainstream breakthrough hit (and Oscar nominee) “Mirai.” “Scarlet” is a loose but clearly intended rendering of Hamlet, with all of its castles and knights, ghosts and traitorous uncles — and lots that isn’t in Shakespeare’s play, too.
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One of the first lines of dialogue is Claudius (Kôji Yakusho) plotting the murder of his brother; “I have long dreamed of pouring poison into his ears”, he says, but the King is too popular and Claudius must instead frame him for plotting with a neighboring country, thus enabling his execution. Scarlet (Mana Ashida), a young princess, watches on distraught as her father’s ruthless executioners seem to relish in their task. After Claudius poisons her, Scarlet begins her exile into the “Otherlands,” a sort of purgatory, where she plots her revenge alongside a horde of people who feel similarly wronged by their too-short lives.
But this is a Hosoda movie, so things will become considerably more complicated from there. Much like Mirai’s acceptance that he’s no longer the man of the house, Scarlet’s most important journey is one of self-discovery — a quest far from the violent quest for justice undertaken by the original Prince of Denmark. But there is some of that, too. The Otherlands is a community of struggling people from all places and time periods, who can nevertheless understand each other despite their differences. Scarlet’s journey through them will lead her to cross paths with a variety of characters, starting with Hijiri (Masaki Okada), a nurse from modern-day Japan who refuses to convince that he should have died. Soon thereafter, Scarlet encounters a little girl who says that if she were a princess, she would spend her life making sure the world was livable for little girls like her. It’s enough for Scarlet to realize that vengeance might be a bit self-centered; there are bigger fish to fry.
The politics of the lost masses without food or a home is not far from James Gunn’s “Superman”, another well-intended but fairly vague expression of struggling peoples and the evil rulers depriving them of life and dignity. Scarlet’s venture is even more consciously informed by “Dune”, whose heir to the throne is radicalized to embrace the cause of his former antagonists. Hosoda’s film poses a similar question to Scarlet as Frank Herbert’s saga did to Paul Atreides: How much is this story all about her? Hijiri is a paragon of selflessness who teaches Scarlet that living for others is the only fulfilling way. Hijiri even questions her ruthless approach to warriors sent by her uncle to finish her off, telling Scarlet: “The ultimate warrior fires invisible arrows from an invisible bow.” That isn’t really Scarlet’s style, and it’s probably too much to ask to put the weapons down while she’s actively being hunted. But Scarlet does realize she has the power to improve the lives of all the people in the Otherlands — and perhaps even stop some of them ending up there.
Unfortunately, Hosoda’s ideas in “Scarlet” never get more incisive or interesting than that. There’s an over-sweet centre at the middle of it. Its ending is a feast of sincerity that, not just tedious in its own right, feels unrepresentative of the irreverent character with whom we’ve just spent two long hours. Despite bloody violence throughout, “Scarlet” lacks the edge that would make this culture clash of seminal western tale and Japanese art form as memorable or significant as it ought to be. The first few minutes of the film are a breathless, almost wordless introduction to the Otherlands, with Scarlet trapped under rotting hands clamoring to keep her there. But Hosoda’s expressionism virtually disappears thereafter, and a dry sense of order exerts itself once the story is spirited back towards Elsinore.
To that end, “Scarlet” amounts to a frustrating waste of animating and directorial skill for the price of an excessively ordinary story. The sheer scale of Hosoda’s success may have softened his storytelling instincts, even if the aesthetics are occasionally remarkable. Having written his past four movies alone, it may be time for Hosoda to consider collaborating once again. And maybe not with Shakespeare.
Grade: C+
“Scarlet” premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Sony will release the film in U.S. theaters on Friday, December 12.
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