The Sound of Summer – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 2022
Director: Guy (Guy Pearce)
Cast: Shinya Hankawa, Kaori Hoshino, Kiyomi Kametani, Shiori Kawai, Kuromi Kirishima, Keita Kusaka, Yuina Nagai

Release Date: June 13th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 75 Minutes 43 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Stereo Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"In the relentless heat of the grueling summer, temperatures soar to blistering levels as cicadas emerge to sing their ear-shattering song. Months of continued exposure are enough to make anyone start to feel a little off. Anyone, that is, except that oddity the locals call 'The Cicada Man'. Who is that strange man and why is he always walking around with boxes full of live cicadas? More importantly, what does he do with them? As the heat starts to get to our heroine, and her sanity depletes, real life and delusion begin to mix. Her darkest nightmares seep into our world and she fears the Cicada Man has planted his swarm of insects inside her. She must get them out - at all costs. Thus begins her downward spiral into extreme paranoia and self-mutilation. She just needs to make it through the summer." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

The Sound of Summer comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 33.9 GB

Feature: 17.8 GB

For a film that was shot recently (2022) and on a digital format, it is not surprising that The Sound of Summer looks great. Colors look correct, the image looks crisp, black levels are strong, and compression is very good.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM stereo mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. Dialog comes through clearly, ambient sounds are well represented, and everything sounds balanced. A lot of attention went into The Sound of Summer’s sound design, and range-wise, this track does a great job showcasing it.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a trailer for The Sound of Summer (1 minute 47 seconds, LPCM stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), a trailer for Difficulty Breathing, also directed by Guy (41 seconds, LPCM stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), a featurette titled Japanese Premiere (42 minutes 26 seconds, LPCM stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), a Behind the Scenes featurette (45 minutes 19 seconds, LPCM stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), and a Q&A titled Tokyo Talkshow with the creators of The Sound of Summer, Loud and legendary director Shozin Fukui (33 minutes 41 seconds, LPCM stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles).

Summary:

The Sound of Summer is an unusual Japanese film. Though it has the feel of and all of the elements one has come to expect from Japanese cinema, It was actually directed by a British-born filmmaker who resides in Japan and is fluent in Japanese.

The narrative revolves around a young woman who, during an extreme heatwave that lasts for months, starts to believe that cicadas have infested her flesh. From there, she scratches her flesh profusely and does everything imaginable to remove them, including self-mutilation.

Though the premise is well executed, the narrative is not without faults. The opening setup is not much more than a series of mundane moments, and the backstory during these early moments is nonexistent. Fortunately, things quickly pick up steam once the story shifts towards the young woman’s quest to remove the cicadas. With a WTF finale that perfectly brings everything that preceded to a head.

The Sound of Summer is a film that fully exploits what limited resources it had. And though there are some disturbing moments visually. Most of the time the visuals let the characters take center stage. When it comes to the performances the cast are all very good in their roles, especially Kaori Hoshino in the role of the protagonist. Without a doubt, The Sound of Summer’s greatest strength is its sound design. Not to be overlooked are the gruesome special effects. Ultimately, The Sound of Summer is best described as a psychological horror film that at times is reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion.

The Sound of Summer gets an exceptional release from Unearthed Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and an abundance of extras, recommended.

 Written by Michael Den Boer