Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SCARLET [Red Sea International Film Festival 2025 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia]

The essence of "Hamlet" continues to reconcile itself with audiences. With "Scarlet" (International Spectacular), the new animated film from "Mirai" helmer Mamoru Hosoda, there is a sense of the epic that permeates the first half of the film giving it almost a "Mad Max" meets "Elizabeth" with a dash of the Inferno. However those hard edged stakes gives away to too much melodrama and overwhelmed character feeling in the second half of the film. The sound mix in the late evening screening in the main auditorium of the Red Sea Film Festival at Cultural Square definitely showed what the theater is capable of with the right sound design. The bass was beautifully realized in the first Otherworld sequence. The booming effect of a certain dragon and the desolateness of the wasteland comes through very well. Scarlet takes the place of Hamlet so there is a distinctly different dynamic that works all the better for it especially where the poisoning is concerned. What also seems to play in is two distinct themes/visual cues from "Thor: Ragnarök" and its less successful follow up "Thor: Love & Thunder". It will be clear to most film files. The ending of this film almost parallels it very specifically though it turns out differently. Scarlet, before she succumbs to crying and emotional outbursts, is a phenomenal character. She could have worked better if those elements were dialed back a bit. Her happiness seems crested on a man who shows her kindness...and yet the best example lies in her father in terms of her resilience but also her character. That is all that would be needed.

The context of revenge versus forgiveness is a good one and the superstructure of the film is good overall. It is just her character beats towards the end come across more silly in its need for romantic and moralistic resolution. These points are fine and can be achieved in slightly different characters beats but they need to be more done in moderation. A good example of a similar one that did it but perhaps with less budget is "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" whose red-haired maiden is not unlike Scarlet. Of course there is also a necessary music song element which of course is a matter of taste, especialy with the anime sector. since there is a specific crowd for this sort of film. However "Scarlet" (as evidenced in its earlier scenes) did have the ability to transcend this, especially with some of the grand design elements and sequences including those of mountains and deserts with an incredible sense of detail. The film also doesn't pull back on some of the fight sequences and bloodletting either which makes one think there was a push and pull of tone at the beginning of production. The message of the film and the way it interacts timelines in the Otherworld does make sense with an incredible sense of the cinematic. It however leans too much into one direction whereas if it had stayed the middle ground on certain elements, it would have been more hard hitting, emotional and universal. "Scarlet" is a very neat swing especially with its connotation on existence and states of being but falls a bit short in its delivery, especially in its second half. B-

By Tim Wassberg