A film adaptation of Keigo Higashino’s 2015 novel of the same name, Laplace’s Witch revolves around two murders that have taken place outdoors at hot spring resorts in the dead of winter. The cause of death: hydrogen sulphide poisoning. This is where geochemistry professor Shusuke Aoe (Sho Sakurai of boyband Arashi) comes in, and declares that nature cannot be manipulated to kill someone. The sudden appearance of a mysterious young woman, Madoka Uhara (Suzu Hirose), who calls herself Laplace’s Witch (referring to the theory of Laplace’s Demon), raises more questions.
Rounding out the cast are two more pretty boys: the mysterious Kento Amakasu (played by Sota Fukushi) and Detective Yuji Nakaoka (played by Hiroshi Tamaki).
The beginning of the movie is promising, with a setup that’s reminiscent of classic detective stories. There are dead bodies in a snowy landscape, a determined detective, and a rather confused (boring) professor. When Madoka comes into the picture, she reveals that nature can be predictable, and even manipulated.
A now befuddled Professor Aoe then discovers her secret abilities, details about her past and the possible reason for all the murders. Separately, Detective Nakaoka thinks he’s cracked the case. Then there’s a major plot twist.
All of this development sounds exciting, but unfortunately, what lets it down is the pacing of the movie. It started off fast-paced, but as the movie went on, it dragged its feet – you get plenty of slow and sometimes unnecessary flashbacks. You’d be forgiven for trying to figure out if it was trying to be a detective movie or a family drama with an overly dramatic soundtrack (opera, anyone?).
But it’s the ending that really takes the cake – in classic Takashi Miike (who directs this film) style, it’s weird to the point where you’re not sure if you should laugh. But then again, it’s not a comedy. It’s a preposterous plot leading to an even more preposterous ending, all for the sake of – wait for it – revenge.
From the opening tornado scene to the ending tornado scene (we told you it was weird), it’s a pity the movie’s not more of a whirlwind adventure it set out to be, but a rather oddly-paced nonsensical one instead.
