TORNADO (2025) is not a disaster movie, and the title isn’t even (primarily) a metaphor. It’s the name of its protagonist, played by Japanese singer and actress Kōki, (yes, according to the credits there is a comma in her name). It’s set in Scotland in 1790, and she’s the disaffected daughter/assistant to Fujin (Takehiro Hira, HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI, SNAKE EYES), an ex-samurai turned traveling marionette performer.
We’ll find that out later in flashbacks. But for a while we just see her in a wind storm (not tornado), running from a mob of scary thugs led by Sugarman (Tim Roth, THE MUSKETEER), slipping into a mansion and hiding as the goons storm in, pushing the occupants out of the way to search for what they say is a girl about this high and a boy about this high. We don’t have to know who she is or what they want from her to know fuck these guys, and to be thrilled by the well-executed cat-and-mouse sequences involving rotting floorboards.
It was the samurai aspect that got me to rent this on VOD, but it largely feels like a western, and it has a slow burn revenge angle to it. Don’t worry, it’s a 91 minute slow burn, not a torturous one, and it has a real strong mood and atmosphere that made it captivating to me. Director John Maclean (SLOW WEST), cinematographer Robbie Ryan (THE FAVOURITE, MARRIAGE STORY) and production designer Elizabeth El-Kadhi (ONE SHOT) have somehow concocted endlessly pleasing imagery within a grey and barren landscape. And it has a really effective score of menacing percussion, folksy strings and eerie organ by the Australian musician Jed Kurzel, who scored all the movies directed by his brother Justin (THE ORDER) as well as THE BABADOOK, ALIEN: COVENANT, THE NIGHTINGALE, OVERLORD, THE POPE’S EXORCIST and MONKEY MAN. But I wouldn’t underestimate the power of all the quiet scenes where you can hear the wind, so shout out to sound designer Alexej Mungersdorff. (read the rest of this shit…)
