Continuing a look at the magnificent film selection programmed by The New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts that will be shown at The Japan Society this weekend...
Friday , July 11
After THE SNOW WHITE MURDER CASE, a mystery from director
Yoshihiro Nakamura whose extraordinary reputation (FISH STORY, GOLDEN SLUMBERS)
will have to speak for itself as I haven’t seen it, MARUYA, THE MIDDLE SCHOOLER
is set to turn up into down and left into right with its logic destroying blast
of wild imagination. At the outset a voiceover narrator defines a fantasist as
someone who cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, which is not only an apt
description of adolescent Maruya but for the very film itself. After the 7 year
old shares flights of fancy that see his parents and little sister as a highly
trained band of US secret agents and then a brood of hideous alien invaders, a
flash forward finds the 14 year old Maruya obsessed with visions of a more
sexual nature. He imagines a company of topless women circling around him in a
mock exotic dance and is constantly obsessed with the unattainable goal of
touching his tongue to his penis. This describes the first ten minutes and
things only get more spectacular.
Throughout MARUYA are spot on pop cultural references proving
director/writer Kudo Kankuro to have a keen insight into the genre landscape. His
screenplay resume is extensive, going back to 2002’s PING PONG, and including
Miike’s ZEBRA MAN movies plus this year’s fellow festival entry, satirical
comedy (also helmed by Miike) REIJI. There is a hilarious riff on Korean soap
operas and intense dramas, with the assistance of Ik June Yang (director and
star of BREATHLESS!!) who shows up as a Korean soap star that fixes appliances
for Maruya’s infatuated mother. It is one instance of real life becoming the
stuff of fiction, even taking on the genre’s characteristics, so much so that
the actual world of the MARUYA’S characters becomes as difficult to fathom if
not more so than Maruya’s mental manifestations.
As both writer and director of MARUYA, Kudo seems to have
found his true voice and strong sense of purpose, getting at the nature of why some
indulge in fantasies to such a large degree and the reasons why escapes to
fantasy can be critical to the human spirit as an alternative to succumbing to
darkness.
Saturday, July 12
Here lies a mammoth day for indespensible films, anchored by
THE GREAT PASSAGE and THE DEVIL’S PATH, both immaculately conceived narratives
on individuals gripped by obsessions to achieve a goal, though the former
dwells in the light, the latter in extreme darkness.
THE GREAT PASSAGE begins in 1995, marking a time when
digital media still remained somewhere off in the horizon. The extremely
introverted Majime is brought on to help edit a dictionary. It is a position of
daunting proportions undesirable to most, but one that suits the linguistics
major uncannily. As Majime joins the diligent team of word analysts, a grand
purpose is laid out before him: to not only assemble a dictionary, but a living
one taking in modern usages and the creation of slang expressions by younger
generations. This, according to the veteran anchor of the group Matsumoto, would create a connection between
people across a vast sea of language.
In fact the story unfolds with this very process being
undergone on a different level: Majime, so challenged when it comes to relating
to people, comes to learn about himself and connect with more confident and
brash colleague Nishioka, whose early interactions
exemplify an inability for people to connect.
The film could have focused on Majime as he overcomes his
ineptitudes to forge personal relationships, and ended up being a delightfully
comic romp. But it wouldn’t have ben great. We move through time instead,
finding a more grown Majime and his colleagues weathering the lack of popular
support their undertaking has and the vastness of what is involved in
completing their task correctly. The soundtrack gives lends a sense of wonder and grace, often not unlike the scores
of a Miyazaki anime, with just enough electrically charged oomph to underscore the
film’s few stormier moments.
The movie itself, like the tremendous undertaking of its
protagonists, is a labor of minute detail. When a discussion of refining the
pages so that turning them is more pleasing
to the touch, it is clear that the setting is not merely a function of
the story. THE GREAT PASSAGE expresses a genuine yearning for a time when
tactile media was still a significant part of our lives.
THE DEVIL’S PATH presents an entirely different sort of
ambition, dividing its time between true crime dramatization and a reporter
(Takayuki Yamada) obsessed with uncovering the story while reluctantly dealing
with a mentally deteriorating mother and exasperate wife. After a grizzly
series of murders, the physically intimidating, rage-prone gangster Sudo is
found behind bars, questioned by reporter Fuji (Takayuki Yamada) about the
crimes he was convicted for. Sudo is eager to talk, however indirectly, out of
a desire to get to an accomplice he felt betrayed by, an impenetrable
individual known as “sensei.”
An unflinching dramatization of their crimes unfolds,
including acts of insurance fraud, arranged accidents, dismemberment, and
torture. It is not for the squeamish.
As usual Yamada brings 100 percent to his role, giving the
journalist a countenance of exhaustion at his family troubles that cannot bring
down his sense of moral outrage as he confronts the suspects from which he
tries to uncover the truth. The sadistic gangster known as “sensei” is brought
to chilling reality by Lily Frankie in a shocking performance when considering
his usually soft characters, most recently the good-natured goofball of a
father in LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON.
Moved by a soundtrack that is filled with scratchy
electronic tension, once again calling to mind Fincher and his collaboration
with Trent Reznor, and punctuated by moments that are Giallo-esque, this is
true crime drama at its most hardboiled.
MISS ZOMBIE is a true surprise of the festival, bringing a
new and refreshing take on a genre that has long been stale. From director
SABU, whose work I have always associated with hyperkinetic movement, comes a
surprisingly yet appropriately slow, drifting picture of quiet dread. Often the
only sounds of the film are a ghostly howling wind. The film begins where
well-known zombie comedy SHAUN OF THE DEAD ended: The threat of a zombie
apocalypse being neutralized, the undead are introduced to the population as
dull-witted pets or perhaps slave labor. Yet there is no joking here. SABU’s
minimalistic plot finds a family unit, whose members have only somewhat clear
relations to one another, receiving a “low level” zombie ordered by the group’s
patriarchal figure. She is viewed with
awe and bemusement by her new owners, and then set to work on menial tasks on
their property.
SABU turns the genre askew by de-emphasizing the threat to
humans and creating a sense of dread out of human vice: senseless cruelty to
those different or unknown to us as carried out by children, and unquenchable
sexual desire leading to unthinkable acts by the men. It leads to a
psychological terror different from the usual fight for basic survival, yet effectively
made out to be even more fearsome.
The slow, drifting pace of the film culminates in an
unforgettable pulse pounding 20 minute conclusion. Set in monochromatic black
and white that is reminiscent of Japanese body horror classic TETSUO: THE IRON
MAN as much as the obvious original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, there are
sparingly doled out yet wondrous effects in store. The image of a rising sun
presented in this stark black and while film stock is stunning.
Add to this lineup, ETERNAL ZERO which Steve had high praise
for in his review here and this is a day to consider camping out at The Japan
Society.
Sunday, July 13
MONSTERZ is the only film I’ve had a chance to see of those
playing on the last day of the inter-festival throwdown. Interesting as a
representation of a Japanese take on the superhero genre, and as an adaptation
of a South Korean movie (HAUNTERS), this is also probably the most
straightforward genre and mainstream film of the festival and helmed by Hideo
Nakata who once stirred up the horror genre with THE RING. The South Korean
original was itself indebted to the original manga DEATHNOTE, which wrote the
book (that pun, totally intended) on ultimate VS showdowns between individuals
of seemingly limitless and directly opposing powers. I was ultimately
disappointed with the film, finding characters’ dialogue so wooden and
superficial as to be difficult to take seriously. The humans interacting with
the two main characters are inept beyond explanation. The ultimate message is
also murky at best; although there is some compassion for the villain who was
conceivably turned into what he is by being born into an unsympathetic world, it
doesn’t gel with how things turn out for Shuichi. If you can get past these
flaws, it’s worth a look for strong performances by Tatsuya Fujiwara (‘Light’
in the live action adaptation of DEATHNOTE) and Takayuki Yamada as the villain and hero
respectively and some inspired chaos involving large numbers of human pawns forming
overflowing mobs set to bury Shuichi alive.
Me on twitter = @mondocurry
No comments:
Post a Comment