Bright Future

Bright Future (2003)

  • 70% of critics liked it
    (20 reviews)

  • 70% of users liked it
    (3,280 ratings)

Acclaimed Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa departs from the horror genre for this mystical story of urban ennui. Friends Mamoru (Tadanobu Asano) and Yuji (Joe Odagiri) are aimless young men stuck in dead-end jobs in a dreary factory in Tokyo. Mamoru, the more antisocial of the two, is obsessed… More

Play Trailer

Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Written By
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Genres
Art House & International, Drama
In Theaters
Nov 12, 2004 Wide
On DVD
Mar 8, 2005
Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Ty Burr, Boston Globe

    The movie has a curious and cumulative power.

  • Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

    The most spellbinding aspect of Bright Future is that the surrealism sustains its own squiddish logic, concluding with one of the most breathtaking film finales of the year.

  • Robert Dominguez, New York Daily News

    Pretty to look at, but it's a slow-moving, meandering work that isn't as complex or mysterious as it appears.

  • Manohla Dargis, New York Times

    Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a prolific and sui generis talent from Japan, this quietly creepy film contains a hint of politics and a wealth of shivers.

  • David Rooney, Variety

    The writer-director's story sense is far too distracted, clouding the film's themes and even its basic plotline and allowing only the most glancing insights into its characters.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Walter M


    [font=Century Gothic]In "Bright Future", Mamoru(Tadanobu Asano) and Yuji(Jo Odagiri) are two friends who work in a factory in Tokyo to maintain their slacker lifestyles. Yuji prefers to spend his spare time asleep when he dreams of utopias. When he is not asleep, he goes… More

  • Lesley N


    Japanese fillm about two solitary friends and, initially at least, a jellyfish. Even after watching the whole thing quite carefully, I'm not really sure what the film's trying to say. There's a plot, and action, character development, it's intriguing, and very… More

  • Anthony V


    Right now it's a go.

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