Sanzaru (Fantasia Fest)
**Watched for the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival.
“Sanzaru” looks at the pain of dealing with dementia in as straightforward a way as I’ve seen it presented in a movie. I’m starting to get a glimpse of it myself with my mother, whose memory as been on the decline for a couple of years. There have been moments as frightening and exhausting emotionally as what the characters in Xia Magnus’s film go through. I feel like I’m just getting started on that journey; I cannot image what the end is going to be like.
One of the things that happens with dementia and memory issues, in general, is a loss of a sense of reality. I’ve noticed the starts of this in my mother when it’s been really bad, and the disconnect is hard to wrap your head around. For Evelyn (Aina Dumlao), the caretaker in “Sanzaru,” the more erratic Dena’s (Jayne Taini) behavior is, the more unsettling things feel. She has her nephew (Jon Viktor Corpuz) living with her, and Dena’s son, Clem (Justin Arnold), is right next door. At night is when things start to get really strange, as she seems to talk to people, and the radio seems to turn on by itself. Could something else be at work, or is it just the ravages of a painful disease?
Magnus’s approach is slow-burn, open up the possibility of the supernatural, but keep the sense of reality going until you’re ready to spring the spooky on the audience. I couldn’t help but think of the times with the grandmother in the 2004 “Grudge” as the film unfolded, but this is more about the psychological toll of the situation on everyone involved rather than just chalking this all up to horrific elements. When that is where the film is at, this is a strong piece of dramatic filmmaking. The cinematography by Mark Khalife has just the right lighting for a mood of pending dread, and the score by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs doesn’t go for cheap jumps, but building dread, especially when Evelyn starts to get the idea that more might be up with this family than it seems. When he’s introduced, we feel as though Clem is going to be largely absent from the equation, but he is a key figure for a lot of reasons, some of which may explain that early distance he displays when we first meet him.
The title “Sanzaru” is Japanese for the “Three Wise Monkeys”- hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. Taking the meaning literally, it makes one wonder what the intentions for the entity that haunts this family are. It’s interesting when a film introduces supernatural elements for what may be a positive in a character’s life, rather than a negative. I think, in the context of this film, that might be the case, even if it’s causing stress on some of the characters in the moments. But that is for each of us to decide in watching the film.
