What awaits us when we cross the great divide? In writer and director Michihito Fujii’s “The Parades,” departed souls with unfinished business in the land of the living are left to dwell in a limbo that looks like it was dreamed up by an Instagram influencer.
The main setting for this glossy Netflix original is an abandoned holiday camp with dinky bungalows and an al fresco bar, overlooked by a Ferris wheel festooned with lanterns. It’s equal parts music festival, wellness retreat and “Terrace House” — somewhere to chillax while contemplating eternity.
This is where Minako (Masami Nagasawa), a TV reporter and single mother, finds herself after perishing in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. She’s desperate to know if her young son survived the disaster and bewildered by the casual attitude of the other residents — who include a writer (Kentaro Sakaguchi), a former yakuza (Ryusei Yokohama) and a bar hostess (Shinobu Terajima).