The Deer King (2021 | Japan | 113 minutes | Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji)
The Deer King is a tense story that feels a little convoluted at times. As the story opens, the people of Zol, after years of civil war, have the neighboring Aquafa securely under their thumb. Val, a war-weary former soldier from the Aquafa’s now-dispersed elite fighting squad called the Broken Antlers, has been reduced to working in a mining camp alongside fellow Aquafas just to earn a meager living.
Val still mourns his family who were lost to a disease brought on by a mysterious pack of wolves killing anyone they attack and bite, but who oddly tend to steer clear of the Aquafa people. Assumed long since gone, fear of these wolfpacks has waned, but after they attack several groups of people throughout the kingdom including the Emperor and everyone in Val’s mining town, many are dying once again from the disease they carry called Black Wolf Fever or mittsual. Both Val and a young girl, Yuna, are bitten but somehow survive the attack and escape their servitude finding a small village to settle in.
A famed doctor, Hosalle, is traveling the country looking for a way to heal or cure the disease. After hearing of his escape, Hosalle thinks Val may be the answer he’s been searching for. Meanwhile, a mysterious voice calls to Val, sending the wolves to their small village to steal Yuna away in order to lure him. The doctor finds the mysterious warrior and decides to travel with him in order to find the young girl, since Val refuses to offer his blood to create a vaccine until Yuna is safe. Dark forces tempt Val but he doesn’t succumb… only to have Yuna faced with taking his place. Being so young she has no defense and falls under the dark spell. Val either has to sacrifice himself to offer her a better life or lose her forever.
Honestly the Deer King might have been better as a miniseries, because there’s just so much to unpack. At times it felt rushed, but at other times it was drawn out and a bit slow. The characters would have been better served had we been given time to dive into their pasts and personalities. One character that was sorely lacking in depth was the Emperor’s brother. He had a soft spot in his heart for the warriors of The Broken Antler, and in turn for Val, but other than having a great deal of power after his brother dies, we don’t know much about him. He was probably a much better Emperor than his brother, but we’ll never know since he was only in a couple scenes. Even the characters that dominated the screen could have used deeper exploration into who they were and what drove them.
Despite the shallowness of the individuals that make up the film, the unique storyline kept me intrigued up to the end. It was even a little scary at times. Yuna, under the control of magic, looked a little like the doll come to life whose head turned 360 degrees and stared up with a cold smile. Thankfully that didn’t last long and her cheeky and cute personality came back.
The Deer King arrives in local theaters and on select VOD platforms today (July 15th)