In beautiful sunny afternoon in Prague, a man of a certain age discusses his love of Provence. Suddenly, a black flag is suspended. The composer Foerster died.　　Graduation film of director Jirí Menzel.

在古老的传说中，长有洁白羽翼的公主被禁锢在房间之中，希冀这外面的世界。某日，一位神秘的少年出现在了公主的面前，成为了公主唯一的朋友。透过少年之口，公主得以知道大千世界里发生的种种。然而，当公主和少年相爱之时，曾经的诅咒应验了。　　神尾观铃（川上伦子 配音）自小体弱多病，孱弱的身体令她无法去学校上课，只能整日待在家中。然而，观铃却并没有因此而变得郁郁寡欢，因为她相信，自己总有一天会遇见传说中的那个少年。国崎往人（小野大辅 配音）是一位旅行中的人偶师，他一直在寻找母亲所告诉他的“在空中的少女”。当往人遇见观铃之时，他发现，也许观铃正是他想要寻找的那个人。

爱情，从来行动大于言语　　威伦，一个出生在情人节的年轻人，却从来不知道爱情——甚至连他父母的爱都不知道。他遇到了一个对他表现出同情和温柔的人　　Valen, a young man born on Valentine’s Day but has never known love - not even the love of his parents. And he meets someone who shows him compassion and tenderness.

Constantly on the hunt and suffering from hallucinations that drive his violent nature, an unnamed man is capturing women and savagely beating them to death. Meanwhile, a woman is luring men into a violent end, by way of her knife. Driven by the same force to make the opposite sex suffer, the killers’ fates intertwine. The two must face off in a battle to the death, in which they are forced to reveal the horrible truth behind their addiction to murder.　　“Brutal” takes an interesting approach to its visuals, drawing heavy influence from Western “Grindhouse” films, using a filter to make the footage appear grainy, damaged, and with light and color fluctuations. Unfortunately, the visual styling ends up feeling misguided, as other than applying the filter it does not imitate any other aspects of the “Grindhouse” genre. Despite trying to dirty up the film, it is apparent it was shot on digital. The cinematography is also a step above most “Grindhouse” productions, with Takashi Hirose proving he has talent behind the camera. Exterior shots to those taking place in small spaces are all competently framed, lit, and transition well. The decision to add an effect on top of the work hurts the film’s imagery and even gives a sense of desperation to try to capture a certain type of nostalgia with the audience, instead of relying on its own strengths. It is unfortunate when one creative choice can hurt a production so much.　　The story of “Brutal” is simple but effective, it does attempt some sort of social commentary about the violent nature of men and women, but it does not offer enough depth into the subject to justify the amount of violence on display. The film does end on a strong note with an interesting twist, with a reveal that is bound to gross some out, while giving others a chuckle. In spite of its simple nature, those who enjoy films that make them somewhat uncomfortable and enjoy the challenge of getting through some ultra-violence, “Brutal” poses a fun and entertaining challenge in that regard.