4/5 Much better than what most people are saying . . .
  by R. C. Watt (Toronto, ON)
I think that if you have already had some experience watching Japanese movies you may prefer this more than if it is your first foray into Japanese cinema. Yes, the movie is fairly long and slow at some points but the story is interesting and the characters more or less believeable.
Not all movies need to be fast paced or full of intense action sequences to be good.
I recommend this movie, more to fans of Japanese films, but as well to those looking for something not "Hollywood."


2/5 Not what you'd expect
  by J. Davis (Texas, USA)
Synesthesia was a very disappointing flick. I had purchased it after reading the plot synopsis on the back, which to be honest sounded like a really great movie idea. The writers and directors must not have really understood the disease in the first place.
Synesthesia (the movie) basically is about murderer (who for some reason represents himself by some sort of elk, yes an elk) who is afflicted with the disease and is leaving messages at the crime scenes that can only be seen by other synesthesiacs. This was the main fault of the movie, the disease is unique to every person and it would not be possible for two people to have exactly the same symptoms (i.e. seeing yellow makes you smell burnt toast, looking at the number 6 makes you taste jelly beans, etc.). So the movie drags on for over two hours without anything ever really interesting happening, not even a good action or chase scene. Even when the killer leaves the "unseen" messages and the other charactor notices them nothing happens, no special effects to let you see what the charactor sees just this girl saying, "oh you see that pool of blood, well he left the letter M right there on the floor."
Synesthesia sounds very interesting and it very well could have been a great movie but I assure you it was a long waste of time.

3/5 i smell a synesthete!
  by pequin
...and a cry baby , at that. Boo-Hoo, something didn't reflect the real world properly, Oh my god!!! I'll bet you could just die right about now!

3/5 rental at best
  by Tim Giunta (NJ)
well, i made the mistake of picking this movie up after reading the product description and coming to the conclusion that, for the price, it was a steal. for the first hour or so the movie is interesting, however *SPOILERS AHEAD* after the death of a certain key character the movie slips downhill. *END SPOILERS* even more so, i felt as if i was ripped off by the ending, which is quite predictable if you know movie cliches. this movie is a rental at best.

3/5 Product description is misleading
  by Leserin (Luxemburg)
My review goes not to the item, but to the product description because it is misleading: synesthesia is a) not rare, it is b) not a disorder, c )the senses are not being mixed up. Correct is that synesthesia is a gift which quite a lot of people have; an estimate could be one out of 200. It is a healthy neurological phenomenon. For the processing of a stimulus such as hearing or seeing something, (at least) one more sense is stimulated together with the expected one; e.g. hearing music can stimulate visual experiences. Usually, synesthetes enjoy this greatly. They are not at all confused. You should rather compare synesthesia to a thing like the perfect pitch - not everybody has it (though many people know about it). Those who have the perfect pitch usually are very happy about it and would not want to get rid of it (if that was possible at all); they have no problem at all living with their additional perception because for them it is not additional, it is perfectly normal. The same is true for synesthesia.