A homunculus, which the direct translation from Latin would be “little person” is a representation of a small human being. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions. The term is also used for an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it. For example, the legs are small but the mouth and hands are large. –Theoric explanation taken from Wikipedia–
Homunculus (2021) is the new movie from Takashi Shimizu, popular for being the creator of the Japanese horror hit film Ju-on (2002), its Hollywood remake The Grudge (2004), and several other entries of the saga. Now, he is back with a fantasy and mystery thriller where truth and illusion blur when a homeless amnesiac awakens from an experimental medical procedure with the ability to see people’s innermost traumas.
Susumu Nokoshi once worked for a top foreign financial company. He is now a 34-year-old homeless man, usually found around a park in Shinjuku. He then meets medical school student Manabu Ito, who is looking for volunteers to undergo a surgical procedure known as trepanation. The surgery involves drilling a hole in the skull. Susumu is not interested in having the surgery, but he agrees to have the procedure for 700,000 yen. After the operation, when Susumu closes his right eye and sees someone with his left eye, he sees people having a distorted appearance. Manabu tells him that the distorted appearance is a form of visualization from deep within the mind. Susumu communicates with people, who possess a dark side in their subconscious mind.
The movie is based on the manga of the same name by Hideo Yamamoto, popular for being also the author of the manga origin for Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer (2001), its prequel 1-Ichi (2003), and the horror-comedy Stop the Bitch Campaign (2009). The adaptation screenplay has been written by Naruki Matsuhisa and Eisuke Naitô, the responsible ones for the horror film Dorome: Boys (2016), together with the director Takashi Shimizu.
Homunculus (2021) is starred by Gô Ayano, Ryô Narita, Seiyô Uchino, Yukino Kishii, and Marika Yamakawa.
Netflix has the distribution rights for the film in the USA, and some European and Asian countries where the movie is already available. Here you can watch the trailer for Homunculus (2021).
