Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a deeply unusual war film — less concerned with combat than with cultural collision, repressed desire, and psychological tension between its leads. David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto deliver hypnotic, otherworldly performances that elevate the material beyond what the script alone achieves. The film's conception is genuinely singular: a WWII POW drama filtered through themes of bushido, homoeroticism, and cross-cultural incomprehension, anchored by Sakamoto's iconic score. The plot meanders and resists conventional dramatic payoff, which frustrates as much as it intrigues, and the ending — while emotionally resonant in Hara's farewell — feels somewhat diffuse rather than fully earned. Cinematography is competent and atmospheric but not especially distinguished. Its novelty, however, is undeniable: there is simply no other film quite like it.