WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!
In the end, I couldn’t help it and buckled. I’ve been DYING to see Paradox Alice since the trailer appeared so long ago, so splurged the cash to get it sent over from Japan.
I’m posting this to go some way towards quenching people’s thirst for knowledge about the movie. I'm worried I'm going to get a load of IMs now asking me to describe it, I'm afraid I can't do that - so instead here's a mini 'review'.
So, let’s dive in with...
The Transformation
A confession. I could be all superior and say I patiently watched the film for the transformation, but actually, it’s the first thing I wanted to see.
This is the best male to female transformation I’ve seen in a film, ever. Period.
Is it the perfect, Rick Baker quality transformation that I imagined in my wildest tf dreams? No - how could it be? But - considering Mako’s limited budget it is absolutely awesome. Things have come a long way since
The Kiss.
What it lacks in terms of money it makes up for in terms of imagination. I think a transformation like this could only have been thought up by a transformation fan, and Mako has done an incredible job.
It’s like an amalgamation of all the transformations we’ve seen previously in
The Kiss,
Eleven and
The Last Piece Standing. We get close ups of body parts changing, mixed with reaction shots. My favourite transformation scenes are shown this way. CGI, Makeup and acting are used to tell the story of the transformation. To say anything else would genuinely spoil it. I’m not being difficult, or mysterious, it’s just that it’s clear that Mako has put so much work into this film, for me to describe his work on a forum and give away the secrets of Paradox Alice wouldn’t be fair. I’m sorry.
What I can say, is that it’s a very forced transformation and Ethan Sharrett does a good job at conveying the agony of the change. As a non-tf fan, I imagine it would blow somebody’s mind as it happens. You just wouldn’t see it coming. On this forum we’re a little more used to seeing these things - but that’s not to take away from it. Mako and the SFX makeup team do an effective job. The only thing I’ll say is that there’s nods to the chest burster scene in Alien and an incredible shot of his shoulders shuddering and crunching narrower, as he tries to resist. Once the physical transformation has taken place, a much subtler, emotional one kicks in over the rest of the movie. Oh Mako, my heart is aflutter.
The Biggest Surprise
So then I went back and watched the whole film - and it is fantastic. The theme of transformation runs throughout it, but Mako has assembled a wonderful cast (everyone is very well cast) and a tight, high stakes story. There’s some lovely foreshadowing of what is to come. There’s a very effective use of a gloomy, claustrophobic set. It reminded me in style of Wing Commander IV, for those of you who are ancient like me and can remember such things. There’s an undeniable sense of the loneliness of space.
I’m afraid I bought the film because I wanted to see the TF - such is the slightly shameful, voracious nature of having a tf kink. The biggest surprise was that I loved the movie as a whole. I connected to the characters and their plight. I was moved by it. I think you will be too.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BLSM-14