There are stories where the fundamental rules of the world we know are tweaked. A minor change and it sets a whole different dynamic in play. That is the world of Best Wishes To All. Interestingly, nobody in this movie is named. I don’t think ever. Don’t get me wrong, they all have roles. But it is grandmother, grandfather, and the main character we follow (technically their granddaughter) from the start. Later we are joined by some neighbors and classmates, but they are not long for the story and come and go. Eventually mother, father, and brother join them at home. Which if you think about your life, within your circle, names aren’t used often. Mostly when talking about people who aren’t there.

The movie starts with a trope that as a writer I know is bad. In a book anyway. And it feels bad to me when I see it in a movie. The dream sequence opening! Here’s something dark and scary happening, but wait… we suddenly see the main character wake up screaming. And now we begin. As a writer I have come to see more and more how the “and now we begin” trope is bad. Why not simply begin. Anything before “and now we begin” is likely wasting time. Unless it is something important, which it sometimes is. All of this 225 plus word opening leads me to… 

And now we begin the review.

Our main character is a nursing student, so I shall call her Nurse. Nurse wakes from a dream of her childhood. Family sitting happily around a dinner table eating. Wanting to make sure she is happy. After dinner she peeks into a room where something creepy is, and then she wakes up. 

She is heading home for a brief time to see family. Could be a holiday or a school break or who knows. In this vague unexplained world all we know is that Nurse is going to her childhood home. Grandmother and Grandfather greet her and she is back in the oddly uncomfortable place she grew up. They act weird toward her, overly friendly in a false way. At times oinking like pigs during a meal, or standing in the hallway, mouth agape, staring into the abyss. Or the time when during a meal Nurse watches a naked man crawling down the hallway, his mouth and eyes sewn shut. Or the moment she is hiding under the meal table and Grandmother begins giving oral sex to Grandfathers pointer finger. Or when Nurse is wanting to go into the room from her earlier dream but Grandmother shows up and begins running into the door repeatedly like an elderly Lemming that can’t understand why something is in the way.

Eventually Nurse gets into the room where Sewn Shut guy “lives.” She talks to her neighbor friend and gets him to come help her. During the conversation with him, we learn that his family doesn’t have the same beliefs hers does. And we are given insight into the idea that everyone but her knows what is going on. For some reason her family simply hasn’t told her. It is more a point of humor for them all as opposed to a teaching moment to inform her. They free the guy and release him into the wild, but without a lot of plan. As he runs free, he winds up getting hit by a car just as Nurse’s Mother and Father and Young Brother arrive by car. Many neighbors show up and discuss the tragedy of their family having lost their happiness.

So here’s the thing. Sewn Shut guy wasn’t really a person, I mean he was, but he was the living embodiment of happiness that fueled their family. Her family looks to Nurse and declares that she must fix the problem she created. Which amounts to “Go find and kidnap someone that can be the new Sewn Shut person to return happiness to their family. But it’s not just happiness, there is so much more going on. Because random bleeding begins to happen to the family, but they don’t care. They are resigned to their fate as they wait for Nurse to fix it. Apparently they would rather bleed and wallow in their new situation than go find a Sewn Shut person themselves. 

There is so much peculiar and surreal world building going on here that it amazed me. I love this world. So many mysteries hiding in the dark corners and the open fields. We get to see 90 minutes of it, but then no more. I’d love to see another movie in this world, which isn’t necessarily following Nurse and her family. But let’s see another part. Maybe focus on a family who doesn’t have a Sewn Shut person. How is their life? Because the “religion” of having a Sewn Shut person to infuse happiness into a family can’t be the only way of life. We know that. But how do others live without the artificial happiness? And there is a monologue around the one hour mark that suggests this world is a Matrix simulation! Wouldn’t that be something. If the world of the Matrix and Neo’s role in it was a Western perspective and the “real” world of Japan was styled on this movie with Nurse potentially being their Neo. But with no pill to swallow, she has to act in a red pill or blue pill way. Without any guidance from Morpheus. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie had a snow globe restriction effect to it. Like Dark City or Cemetery Man. That would actually be a pretty interesting twist. Having watched this movie, I can say it doesn’t. But maybe in a Best Wishes To All 2 it might be done.

I’ve watched this movie twice now, something I find myself doing when I enjoy a movie I am going to review. And it is just as fascinating the second time through. Going with 9 stars on this and this may be the top of my list for wishing for a sequel! That’s a lie, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon shall always be at the top of that list. This is second on that list though.