REVIEW: Tomie: The Final Chapter – Forbidden Fruit

富江 最終章 : 禁斷の果實
(Saishuu-shô - kindan no kajitsu )

Released: 2002

Director:
Shun Nakahara

Starring:
Nozomi Ando
Aoi Miyazaki
Jun Kunimura
Yuka Fujimoto
Ayaka Ninomiya

Running time: 91 min.

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

How long does it (or should it) take a film series to mature, breaking the shackles of the mundane and creating true works of originality? Most horror series I would argue never really reach this level of complexity throughout their existence, and in fact travel in the opposite direction, becoming unoriginal works used to generate nothing more than money. The Tomie series seems to be a rollercoaster ride with its peaks (Tomie and Tomie: Rebirth), its plateaus (Tomie: Replay) and its deep, deep valleys (Tomie: Another Face and Tomie: The Beginning). The not so aptly dubbed "Tomie: The Final Chapter – Forbidden Fruit", not so aptly dubbed because they have in fact continued on with the series, is without a doubt the most mature film in the series, exhibiting a great deal of understanding for the world Junji Ito had created with his manga, as well as crafting a tense piece of horror filmmaking. Perhaps this stems from director Shun Nakahara being the oldest director in the Tomie series to date, he was 52 when he made the film, or perhaps it’s from writer Yoshinobu Fujioka’s familiarity with the subject, having written the Takashi Shimura entry "Tomie: Rebirth".

"Tomie: The Final Chapter – Forbidden Fruit" introduces us to Tomie Hashimoto (Aoi Miyazaki), a cute but somewhat nerdy teenage girl who lives with her father in a small town. The few ‘friends’ she has at school belittle and demean her constantly, so she spends most of her alone time pursuing her passion in life, writing, scribing epic romantic tales with dark twists. Her father Kazuhiko (Jun Kunimura) lives a quite, solitary life, doing his best to raise his daughter, but ultimately being quite self absorbed. Tomie’s far from perfect life changes suddenly when she meets Tomie Kawakami, a beautiful and confident girl who takes a swift liking to her shy counterpart. The two Tomie’s quickly become friends, and the new Tomie pushes the boundaries of what Tomie Hashimoto has experienced in life. The title "Forbidden Fruit" seems to imply that some of this exploring of boundaries will push the limits of Tomie’s sexuality, but despite a few minor hints towards a loving lesbian relationship, nothing is ever developed. As time passes, and the girls grow closer, the new Tomie starts to behave strangely, as does Kazuhiko, and he soon admits that 25 years ago he was in love with a girl named Tomie, whom he named his only daughter after, and he can now rekindled that passion! The nature of Tomie Kawakami’s character starts to unravel as Kazuhiko becomes more obsessed, and Tomie strings him along. He starts to work out obsessively, and soon father and daughter are caught in a struggle as Tomie plays one against the other. A love triangle like this can’t end well.

"Forbidden Fruit" does something no other film in the series has done before it, and that’s capturing the world of Ito’s manga and the nature of Tomie herself. Nozomi Ando is the best incarnation of Tomie thus far, not only because of Ando’s performance which is at times tender and touching, and others sexy and psychotic, but also because of the depiction of what she really is: a demon. This isn’t a film aimed at teenagers, it has a higher purpose: to engage adults, and not just ones who have a Junji Ito hard-on! The tone is bang on, and is able to switch between horror, drama, obsession and dark humour with easy and precision. Tomie in her larvae stage is probably the perfect summation of this layering of thematic elements. It’s strangely cute, funny and disturbing. But what really makes this film stand out compared to the rest in the series is how it’s simplicity, like Ito’s original manga. It doesn’t seek to intertwine several tales, creating a jumbled mess. It creates a tense, slow burn horror film based around the three way relationship between father, daughter and Tomie. It’s a delight to watch unfold, and I think its this horror grounded in the characters relationship that has attracted Paul Schrader to essentially turn this film into his incarnation of Tomie, albeit his is a father, son and Tomie tale from the sounds of it.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Tomie: Replay

富江 Replay (Tomie: Replay)

Released: 2000

Director:
Tomijiro Mitsuishi

Starring:
Mai Hosho
Sayaka Yamaguchi
Yôsuke Kubozuka
Ken'ichi Endô
Makoto Togashi

Running time: 95 min.


Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

My favourite "Tomie" manga’s are the one’s that allow Junji Ito to plunge into the depths of madness and insanity. Sure it’s a pleasure to read almost anything by him, but it’s the parts of the "Tomie" mythology that try to reach the same lofty level of insanity and madness that his masterpiece "Uzumaki" reaches that really stand out. Not only on a narrative level, with the interweaving Tomie’s vying for supremacy over all others, the violent lengths that some of the characters take to kill/control Tomie, and the weird and surreal imagery derived from the various incarnations Tomie takes on, but also on a sheer artistic level, when Ito lets his imagination run wild, creating some truly striking imagery. It would make sense that taking one of these more epic tales would in turn produce a more devious and twisted "Tomie" film.

"Tomie: Replay" is just that film. All things considered, its really the first sequel to the original Tomie film, and unlike the original, its based more or less on one straight up tale as opposed to an amalgamation of several. The film opens with a young girl undergoing an operation. Her stomach is horribly distended, and whatever is causing this distention is slowly crushing her organs. A team of crack surgeon’s rush to remove the object, only to find that insider her bloated belly is the head of Tomie! From that point on its balls out insanity! Well, not really, but it really should be. Like the first film, it’s more a slow burn kind of horror film. But where as the first film tried to keep itself separate from the usual J-horror film tropes, the sequel attempts to play with them, giving us more graphic violence and more attempted chills, even delving into ghost story territory that didn’t really exist in the manga. Yumi Morita (Sakaya Yamaguchi) finds her fathers diary after he goes missing. He was the head doctor at the clinic responsible for the surgery on the young girl, and all the doctors involved with the surgery, save one, have gone missing. Yumi is keen to investigate. It leads her to Dr. Tachibana (Kenichi Endo) and to the truth about Tomie and the vat in the hospitals basement in which she was grown.

This film leaves me somewhat torn. It’s still a watered down version of Junji Ito, and doesn’t reach the level of brilliance it should, but there are parts, small, tiny parts, that come close. Tomie is still not the demonic she-beast that she should be, but from the "Tomie" films I’ve seen, this is the best depiction thus far (I’ve yet to see "Rebirth" and "Forbidden Fruit", which I know are considered the best, so this judgment is far from complete). It does trade in some of the ambiguity and surreal imagery from the first film for more straight up shocks, but it does still contain some great stuff. When "Tomie: Replay" works, it really works. It just seems like director Tomijiro Mitsuishi held back during the making of the film and was afraid to turn the crazy meter up to 11. He has it set at 7 for most of the film. Will a "Tomie" film ever really capture Ito’s true intention? I really hope so. This film is still required viewing if you’re really into Junji Ito, the "Tomie" mythology or J-horror in general, but as a stand alone film, not so much. Although I will give it props for not spoon feeding the audience on what Tomie is or what she is capable of. That ambiguity is still there, and keeps the film somewhat fresh.

If you like films featuring small children impregnated with disembodied heads of cute Japanese girls, you’ll probably really dig this film.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Tomie: The Beginning

富江 BEGINNING (Tomie BEGINNING)

Released: 2005

Director:
Ataru Oikawa

Starring:
Rio Matsumoto
Asami Imajuku
Kenji Mizuhashi
Nahana
Maya Kurokawa

Running time: 74 min.

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

So pretend your name’s Ataru Oikawa, and after releasing a big screen adaptation of Junji Ito’s "Tomie", which is successful enough to spawn a series of sequels, you follow the film up with a number of mediocre films. You have a deep fascination with young, cute girls who inevitably have bad things happen to them. You seem to be trapped in the video realm, forced from the lofty ambitions you had of making feature films like "Tomie", to making low budget DV films. Sure, "Tokyo Psycho" wasn’t bad, but you seemed to have hit your peek with "Tomie", and have fallen so far. So how do you try to pull yourself out of this J-horror well that seems to swallow your soul? Well, you subscribe to the George Lucas School of filmmaking, and go back to what worked for you, and see if it works again! And again! And again!

"Tomie: Beginning" is essentially a prequel to the ever growing number of Tomie films. But don’t let the title fool you. It’s not about the beginning of Tomie, and it doesn’t go into detail with explanations as to what she really is, but instead it’s an adaptation of the very first Tomie manga, published way back in February 1987. It follows Reiko Matsuhara (Asami Imajuku, from Toshiaki Toyoda’s "9 Souls") as she befriends the new girl in her class, Kawakami Tomie. Of course the class quickly descends into madness, as all the males of the class, including their teacher Takagi, fall into an obsessive state of love, fighting off each other for even a glance from Tomie. The females, who at first become jealous of the attention she garners from the males, try to fight back, but Tomie uses her demonic charms to render them powerless. But just as Tomie has the entire class under her spell, the obsession turns into madness, and the students lose control, slicing Tomie again and again, only to watch her rise once more.

"Tomie" was a good, solid horror film. It was made with the co-operation of Junji Ito, and while it veers from the manga in terms of story, the giallo-esque atmosphere it creates is creepy, and at time when "Ringu" knock-offs were flying off the shelves, quite original. "Tomie: Beginning" doesn’t seem to carry that same sense of unease the first film captured so well. Instead of creating a film that’s more an inspiration of the manga, taking bits and pieces from several issues, Beginning is pretty much a straight up adaptation of the first issue. Sure its told in flashbacks, trying hard to create a sense of mystery about what happened to the class, and sure Rio Matsumoto, who would eventually wind up in Takashi Miike’s "God’s Puzzle", is a great incarnation of Tomie, capturing the vile delight she embodies, but the film doesn’t rise out of the DV mediocrity that Ataru Oikawa has become a prisoner of. I’m sure it was Ataru’s intention to make the film more a black comedy than a horror film, so that we can all reveal in the same delight that Tomie does, but it really doesn’t work, especially when compared to the first film. He trades the atmosphere, and the grotesque delight of the first film for a mélange of school girl giggles and not so convincing dismemberments. Maybe, due to budgetary constraints, forced to make the film on digital video, he had to make this choice, but either way, it just doesn’t work.

"Beginning" isn’t a bad film, but on its own, it’s probably a waste of time. What makes it worth while is that Ataru manages to instill it with enough back-story that links it to the first film, that it creates an interesting addition to the mythology. It even has one linking character, Yamamoto, the guy with the eye patch from the first film who carries Tomie around in a little box (and played by the same actor Kenji Mizuhashi). But beyond that, if you haven’t seen the first film, or really didn’t like the first film, then you should probably pass on this one.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Tomie

富江 (Tomie)

Released: 1999

Director:
Ataru Oikawa

Starring:
Miho Kanno
Mami Nakamura
Yoriko Douguchi
Tomorowo Taguchi
Kouta Kusano

Running time: 95 min.


Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

Adapting a manga like "Tomie" must pose as quite the challenging task to anyone brave enough to undertake the role. Unlike Junji Ito’s other mammoth manga masterpiece, "Uzumaki", which was adapted for the big screen by Higuchinsky the following year (2000), "Tomie" isn’t a linear series. While both series are made up of small self contained stories, "Uzumaki" remains one continuous story that slowly builds into a brilliant mountain of madness. "Tomie" on the other hand is filled with completely individual tales. Some may have reoccurring characters, and the last few do all tie in together, but they don’t provide a clean, linear framework on which to base a film. So the question is what tale would be the best to adapt, as the flagship film for the "Tomie" series. Writer/director Ataru Oikawa takes several of the smaller narratives and weaves them into one cohesive story.

Tsukiko (played by "Tokyo Trash Baby's" Mami Nakamura) suffers from amnesia. Three years have passed since she was involved in a car crash that killed her boyfriend and best friend, wiping from her memory all events prior to the accident. She still suffers from nightmares and haunting visions, most of which involve Tsukiko finding herself covered in blood, taunted by headless corpses. Her psychiatrist is skeptical about the entire incident, and subjects Tsukiko to hypnotherapy. During one of the sessions, Tsukiko utters a girl’s name. Tomie. Meanwhile, a new gentleman moves into the apartment downstairs. He carries keeps a small cardboard box with him, and the ‘creature’ inside screams orders, yelling, mocking him, and making demands, until he does what it wishes. Tsukiko’s boyfriend and his co-workers, all employees at a Western themed restaurant, slowly become enthralled by the new employee, a girl named Tomie. As detective Harada (Tsukamoto regular Tomorowo Taguchi) unravels the puzzle of Tomie and Tsukiko, men gradually descend into the depths of madness, overtaken with jealousy, turning on each other while they fall under the spell of the immortal school girl demoness known as Tomie.

"Tomie" is classic Junji Ito fare, the world unraveling as madness consumes everyone that crosses Tomie’s path. And while it doesn’t depict this raving lunacy quite as effectively as either the manga or Higuchinsky’s "Uzumaki", it’s still quite a respective addition to the "Tomie" mythology. Made at the height of the J-horror craze, Tomie could have easily fallen into the trap of many of the sub-par films that followed in the wake of "Ringu". However, Ataru Oikawa chooses to take a different route, filling the screening with Giallo inspired madness. Tsukiko’s dream sequences and memory lapses are filled with Argento like imagery. Expressionistic lighting, an eerie, Gobin-esque score, a bare, experimental sound mix, and a complete absence of the classic yurei (ghost), "Tomie" strives to set itself apart from what one associates with J-horror. And set itself apart it does. It still creates the same sense of unease and malice that permeates films like "Ringu" and "Kairo", but stylistically it’s an entirely different beast. The films biggest flaw is that detective Harada at times becomes more a narrative tool, solely existing to feed us exposition about the history of Tomie, and less a full fleshed out character. Fortunately, Taguchi manages to keep his performance fresh and entertaining. Tomie is cute and twisted, and still ambiguous enough to leave you guessing about what the hell Tomie really is, and what she’s truly capable of.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Tomie: Rebirth

富江 re-birth (Tomie re-birth)

Released: 2001

Director:
Takashi Shimizu

Starring
Miki Sakai
Satoshi Tsumabuki
Kumiko Endo
Masaya Kikawada
Shugo Oshinari

Runing time: 100 min.


Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

Whilst he repeated himself several times over with the "Ju-on" series, when he steps into a new series, Takashi Shimizu tries to reinvent himself. "Marebito" love it or hate it, was a complete 360 from anything he’d done before, "Rinne" subverted the J-horror conventions he’d been bound to with the "Ju-on" series and judging from things, "The Shock Labyrinth 3D" will be no different. After the success of his first two "Ju-on: The Curse" direct-to-video films, Shimizu was given a chance to make a theatrical film. He didn’t jump straight back into the "Ju-on" series, but instead was given the mantle of directing the next film in the Tomie series. His edition, "Tomie: Re-birth" would be the third theatrical release in the series (and the fourth if you count the straight to video film "Tomie: Another Face", which you really shouldn’t). The first two films each had a very different feel to them, the first a more ethereal giallo type horror, the second far more steeped in its J-horror subculture. But when Takashi Shimizu takes hold of the reins, it becomes an entirely different beast indeed.

Taking a page straight from Junji Ito’s manga "Tomie: Painter" (and later on several other tales, including "Tomie: Hair") the film begins with Hideo Kamata (played by the often slightly annoying Shugo Oshinari), an award winning painter working on his latest portrait. His subject is a mysterious girl named Tomie Kawakami. Of course, she immediately rejects his painting, destroying it, and so of course Hideo, driven by his mad lust for Tomie, stabs her with his palette knife. He then calls upon his two friends, Shunichi Hosoda (Masaya Kikawada) and Takumi Aoyama (Satoshi Tsumabuki, and yes, that’s two guys who were also in Battle Royale 2) to help him dispose of the body. But then, like clockwork, Tomie reappears, visiting the group of friends on a night out. Soon friendships start to unravel, and Takumi’s relationship with his girlfriend Hitomi (Kumiko Endou) starts to crumble as she begins to exhibit signs that Tomie is slowly possessing her.

Is this the best film in the series? Yes. And no. Miki Sakai is by far the best rendition of Tomie to date. She never blinks. She has a creepily cute giggle. And she creates a more human performance of Tomie, instead of depicting her purely as a monster. It makes the mad lengths people go to in the series far more plausible if there is some slight amount of empathy. The film is technically the best of the series, and that’s probably due purely to Takashi Shimizu. The cinematography is dark and brooding, enhanced by the eerie, droning soundtrack. The camera moves slow, creeping its way towards the characters, ratcheting up the tension. And the special effects allow Shimizu to depict the true nature of Tomie once she’s been destroyed, and her body struggles to grow back into her perfect self. It’s obvious that Shimizu was going for something entirely different with this film, separating himself from "Ju-on" and the film from its pre-cursors, creating a very slow moving horror film that’s more concerned with the disintegration of relationships than it is in shocking the audience. This will probably irk some viewers, and intrigue others. There are still some wonderfully bloody and creepy moments, but they aren’t what the films really about. It’s more about how Tomie, in all her incarnations and forms, manages to survive through manipulation and abuse of power. The one thing it lacks, and the one thing that I found "Tomie: Replay" did far better, was the level of bloody mayhem. Not that a film should be based around that, but when it’s Tomie, and part of the game is the bloody insanity that ensues from everyone’s spirally madness, then it really should try to reach that milestone. But still, Shimizu’s Tomie manages to take the series in wonderful new ways, allowing Tomie to spread in wonderful new directions. Though the perfect rendition of Tomie has still to be made, "Tomie: Rebirth" is still one of the best.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Tomie: Another Face

富江:アナザフェイス (Tomie: anaza feisu)

Released: 1999

Director:
Toshiro Inomata

Starring:
Runa Nagai
Akira Hirai
Chie Tanaka
Mitsuaki Kaneko
Eriko Odaira

Running time: 72 min.

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

After a successful first feature film adaptation of "Tomie", Toei Films and Kansai Television thought it would be a terrific idea to work together, taking the episodic structure of the manga and applying it to a straight to video format for a new "Tomie" film. Of course, they didn’t want to wait even a year for the new film to be released, taking the time to come up with a solid, creative idea for the new V-cinema adaptation, so in 1999, not one, but two "Tomie" films came out. So how does the rushed video format "Tomie: Another Face" compare with the theatrical precursor? Let’s break it down.

he tale is broken into three stories, all linked by a mysterious stranger with an eye patch that seems to be tracking Tomie down. The first follows Miki and her on again off again boyfriend Takashi, who discovers their classmate Tomie, who also happened to steal Takashi from Miki, is found dead. Of course she returns, and no one can understand why or how. But when Takashi kills her, and tells Miki this isn’t the first time he’s done so, things get a little weird. The second tale finds Mori, a photographer who becomes obsessed with Tomie at a young age, spending his adult life trying to track her down, idolizing her as the perfect subject. However, once he starts taking her photographs, they don’t turn out quite the way he expected. The third tale features businessman Yasuda who proposes to his girlfriend Tomie. However, when he finds himself and Tomie attacked by the eye patch man, he discovers his lover isn’t all she appears to be.

The good: Well, there’s not much good. Luna Nagai, a busty young idol with no screen experience plays Tomie, and to surprisingly good effect. She can be both cute and sexy, and switches fairly quickly to seductive, manipulative and plain old fashioned evil. The episodic structure works quite well for the video format, something Takashi Shimizu would later use with the "Ju-on" series. It is one of the saving graces of the film. At a time when the j-horror boom was spreading, this structure was a breath of fresh air. And the script is surprisingly tight, considering how rushed the film was. It does a good job of remaining somewhat faithful to the original series, depicting the manipulative nature of Tomie, and touching on the every spreading virus like nature of the demonic teenager. However, it does also seem they just grabbed three chapters from the "Tomie" series and translated them on to the page with little imagination too.

The bad: The first film was made with the assistance of Junji Ito, and while it didn’t completely capture the impending madness and bloody nature of the manga, it tried hard, and for the most part succeeded. Here there’s almost no blood. There is nothing remotely scary, or even a little bit creepy. The gruesome demise of Tomie at the hands of her lovers is relegated to a series of falls off of buildings or strangulations that frankly don’t cut it. The visual nature of the video format really doesn’t lend itself to creating such visually inventive worlds that Ito’s characters always seem to exist in. It’s also painfully obvious that there was no budget for this film. Everything seems pretty make shift, more improvised, on the spot filmmaking, where the first and only time director Toshiro Inomata just took whatever he found and shot in it. The world of Tomie this is not. While the images are composed by a professional, at times the film still looks pretty amateurish.

The ugly: The special effects. They range from okay to downright awful. The climax of the third story, in which the ashes of Tomie rise and form a whirlwind image in the air looks terrible. It looks like they didn’t even try. Sometimes, it’s a sorry excuse for a film. While it wasn’t great, "Tomie: The Beginning" still managed to take advantage of the low key nature of video film making. Takashi Miike went ballistic adapting "MPD Psycho" for the video market. But here, it seems completely uninspired.

So should you watch this film? Maybe. Only if you have a slight obsession with "Tomie". Otherwise, stay away.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

"Machine Girl" director Noboru Iguchi currently shooting a new Tomie film - "Tomie: Unlimited"

by Chris MaGee

Here is yet another story that I know our Matt Hardstaff will be very happy to read about. As regular Pow-Wow readers know Matt has been the man to review the entire Tomie franchise of films over the past couple years here on the blog (check them out here), but now it looks like he'll have one more film to add to the list.

According to Nippon Cinema a brand new Tomie film, titled "Tomie: Unlimited" just began shooting... and here's the best part... none other than Noboru Iguchi is directing it. For those of you who need a little refresher, Iguchi is the director of such gore hits as "The Machine Girl", "RoboGeisha" and the not really gory but certainly campy "Ancient Dogoo Girl". Seeing that Iguchi excels at bringing buckets of blood and over-the-top manga-inspired action to each of his films his involvement in a Tomie film seems perfect.

This time out Tomie, the evil girl who can regenerate again and again after being brutally murdered, is being portrayed by 19-year-old former gravure idol Miu Nakamura (above far right), while 15-year-old actress Moe Arai (above right) will portray the sister of a girl who has been caught up in Tomie's web of lust and madness. "Tomie: Unlimited" will of course be based on the original manga series by Junji Ito.

No word on a release date for "Tomie: Unlimited" yet, but we'll keep scanning the net for more details as they come out.

REVIEW: Uzumaki - Higuchinsky (2000)

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

Strange things are afoot in Kurozo-cho. The small, isolated, mountain village is trapped in the grips of an ever-growing plague of insanity. Kirie Goshima watches helplessly as those close to her descend into a vortex of madness. It starts small. A fellow high school student leaps to his death down a spiral staircase. Then, her boyfriend Shuichi’s father begins obsessively documenting spirals with his camcorder. Spirals, as he says, are the purest art form. Soon everyone in Kurozo-cho falls before the madness of the spiral, including her own family.

Ukrainian born Japanese director Higuchinsky, aka Higuchi Akihiro, faced quite the monumental task when he decided to adapt Junji Ito’s mammoth manga masterpiece, Uzumaki. Not only is it Ito’s longest work, spanning three volumes, making it virtually impossible to effectively condense it into 90 minutes; but, at the time production began on the film, Ito hadn’t even finished writing the series. The studio, trying to capitalize on Ito’s ever growing popularity, pushed production forward so that the film could be released as a double bill with another Ito adaptation, Tomie: Rebirth. Maybe adapting a still incomplete work gave Higuchinsky inspiration, knowing that as long as he captured the spirit of Ito’s work, he would be doing it justice. Having already adapted Ito’s Nagai Yume aka Long Dream for TV two years prior, Higuchinsky seemed in tune with the kind of ever-spreading madness Ito is known for.

Uzumaki is the cinematic equivalent of an acid trip: strange, twisted and at times horrific. Made at the height of the J-horror boom, Higuchinsky seems content avoiding all the pitfalls that befell any Ringu imitators, creating what is one of the most original horror films ever cast onto celluloid. While he still uses some common themes that have dominated modern Japanese films, such as the conflict between the modern and natural world, it is still wildly different from anything you’ve ever seen. Higuchinsky creates a loony-toons style horror film, where everything becomes increasingly wild and over the top. While Eriko Hatsune’s performance as Kirie is somewhat restrained as she remains seemingly untouched by the madness, giving us someone to relate to, pretty much everyone else gives an outrageous, yet convincing, performance of lunacy. Everything in the film feels a little off. The camera work is both surreal, dizzying, and at the same time breathtaking. Higuchinsky comes off as the bastard love child of Tim Burton and Darren Aronofsky. The editing is at times jarring, and at others perfectly rhythmic. A ‘green’ filter was used for much of the shooting, something Gore Verbinski did a few years later with The Ring, creating a queasy, unnatural look to the film. And the spirals. Oh, the spirals. Higuchinsky creates an almost Where’s Waldo type game, sneaking spirals into almost every frame, some very subtle, some not so much. Were this any other film, it would probably fail under its own weight of creative audacity, but for a film that depicts one town’s descent into madness, it works perfectly. It fully captures the spirit of Junji Ito’s work, even while it is forced to omit large parts of the saga for the sake of running time.

Ito offered no real answers as to whom or what is behind the madness. It’s a cyclical phenomenon based around an ancient city made of spirals, but it all becomes mere speculation on the behalf of the characters. In Higuchinsky’s version, he retains the same ambiguity, hinting, again through speculation by the characters, that it revolves around an ancient form of serpent worship. While not being able to reach the same scale as Ito, Higuchinsky makes what is probably the perfect 90 minute adaptation of Ito’s work.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Sasori

蠍子 (Sasori)

Released: 2008

Director:
Joe Ma

Starring:
Miki Mizuno
Siu-Lung Leung
Ryo Ishibashi
Simon Yam
Nana Natsume

Running time: 101 mins.



Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

After Meiko Kaji left the "Female Convict Scorpion" series in the early seventies, the films continued in fits and starts, but finally seemed to die in 1991 with "Toshiharu Ikeda (Evil Dead Trap)" incarnation "Female Convict Scorpion: Death Threat". However, the series, much like Nami Matsushima, would not die. The Japanese production company Art Port seems to have found success adapting various manga to the big screen, with films such as Kazuo Umezu’s "Cat Eyed Boy" and Junji Ito’s "Tomie vs Tomie". But after a healthy relationship with Hong Kong based Same Way Productions that saw them make among other films the viciously awesome "Man Bites Dog" in 2006, followed by the messy manga adaptation of Izo Hashimotos "Shamo" in 2007, they decided it was time to step up there game and take on the "Female Convict Scorpion" series by not only rebooting the franchise but adding their own take on the popular manga and film series.

Nami Matsuhima (Miki Mizuno from the "Hard Revenge Milly" films and Sion Sono’s upcoming "Guilty of Romance") is a happily married woman who slowly transforms into the embodiment of revenge as her life is suddenly turned upside down. When her father in law comes to visit, a band of sadistic thugs who want him dead not only succeed in their task, but also force Nami to kill either her husband or her sister in-law. She chooses her sister in-law, not only incurring the eternal hatred of her husband, but also resulting in her being sent to jail. From there she learns the only way to survive and get her revenge is through violence and sheer force of will. However, after escaping prison, she also learns she needs some kung fu skills so as she’s nursed back to health by the Corpse Collector (Simon Yam!) he also teaches her how to fight. From there it’s just a matter of time until she exacts her revenge.

This being a reboot they have obviously changed a few things from the original series, which is fine, but they have sucked away part of the soul of the series, the contempt for a patriarchal society and anything masculine and macho and replaced it with a simple revenge story. It shares many of the same faces that were found in "Shamo" including Bruce Leung, Ryo Ishibashi, and Dylan Kuo. It also unfortunately shares a similar narrative and visual sense, which means it’s all over the place. Sometimes the film features some amazing action set pieces (this film is much more action oriented, given she learns kung fu), some gorgeous cinematography and even some rather inventive editing, but then that’s followed by a constant strobing of images that at times can evoke the comic book spirit the film should have, and other times evoke a headache because its pointless and used to give the impression of stylization.

If you love both Japanese and Hong Kong film, its got a good cast, with Ryo Ishibashi, Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Sam Lee and Bruce Leung all making appearances. It even features AV idol Nana Natsume as one of the female prisoners Nami must contend with. And here in lies my biggest problem. This film should be screaming exploitation. It should be screaming "Cat III" (18 and over rating in Hong Kong). Like "Shamo" and "Dog Bites Dog" it even emulates some of the eighties Hong Kong style during the height of the "Cat III" film. The original series was exploitation with a heart and soul, but here we get no heart, no soul and no exploitation. The producers seem content on not pushing it as far as they should. For all the crazy antics that are involved in the film, a lot of it just seems to fall flat. They cast an AV idol yet there is pretty much no nudity. They have martial arts mayhem that whilst features some hard hitting action scenes, don’t push the envelope of violence to the extreme it should be pushed too. There are so many things this film should have done, but it seems content hiding the fact that it didn’t by giving us a lot of fast cutting, hallucinogenic fades and strobbing imagery that makes it think its far more intense than it actually is.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

REVIEW: Kung Fu Kid

カンフーくん (Kun Fu Kun)

Released: 2008

Director:
Issei Oda

Starring:
Zhang Zhuang
Pinko Izumi
Nanami Fujimoto
Ryan Fujita
Juri Ueno

Running time: 98 min.


Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

The perfect children’s film must reach equilibrium between complete adolescent lunacy and a more mature, adult sensibility. It has to please both the children, and their parents. Very few films actually meet this balance. Osamu Tezuka, Walt Disney and more recently Pixar studio, became quite adept at creating stories mature enough for adults, with humour that could be enjoyed by groups of all ages. "Astroboy" is the pinnacle of this example (and hopefully the new film will live up to Tezuka’s vision). With "Kung Fu Kid" aka "Kanfu-kun", SFX guru Issei Oda strives to reach that balance. After creating visual effects for several notable films, mostly in the horror category, including Higuchinsky’s "Long Dream" and "Uzumaki", and "Tomie: Forbidden Fruit" (that’s three Junji Ito adaptations! This guy must be amazing!), Issei jumps into the directors chair, for this kung fu special effects extravaganza.

"Kung Fu Kid" tells the tale of Kunfu-kun, a young Shaolin monk who is seeking to pass the test of the 36 chambers of Shaolin. Kunfu-kun is a martial arts prodigy. He demolishes every opponent in his path. But when it comes time for him to take the final test, entering the 36th chamber of Shaolin, his master tells him he’s not ready, and sends him to Japan . When the time comes, Kunfu-kun will meet his enemy, discover the true meaning of kung-fu and achieve enlightenment, mastering the final chamber! He soon finds himself in a country in which he does not speak the language, but is quickly adopted by Izumi-chan, an older woman who runs a noodle shop. But of course it’s no ordinary noodle shop. Izumi-chan uses her tai-chi skills to deliver bowls of noodles to her clients, amazing them with her martial ability. Kunfu-kun quickly befriends her grand daughter Reiko, begins to attend school with her, training her friends in kung-fu! Its here that he discovers an evil plot, lead a mysterious corporation, to dominate Japan by brainwashing its youth with videogames! Only Reiko, Kunfu-kun and their friends can stop the madness, before it’s too late!

If there is one thing I can say about "Kung Fu Kid", is that it’s really fun. It gets utterly outrageous at times, and Issei Oda lays on the special effects pretty thick, but the film definitely put a smile on my face. While the film is by no means a children’s classic, it does contain enough great moments to warrant it as essential viewing. It contains a solid message about the true meaning of martial arts and why one must resort to fighting. Zhang Zhuang, who plays Kunfu-kun, was selected from several thousand prospective kung-fu practitioners, and the kid has some crazy movies. He’s somewhat reminiscent of Xie Miao, Jet Li’s on screen son in "My Father is a Hero" and "The New Legend of Shaolin". While Zhang Zhuang doesn’t have the same on screen charisma that Xie Miao had, he more than makes up for it with kick ass kung fu! Kenji Tanigaki’s choreography does a decent job of making it look, sound and feel like little Kunfu-kun is actually beating the snot out of his opponents. The man has been working with Donnie Yen among other people, so its no surprise his action choreography is good. The film also features other industry regulars, such as TV regular Pinko Izumi as Izumi-chan, and the recently deceased Masato Ibu (recently seen in "Glory to the Filmmaker!" and the upcoming "Goemon"). Smart, funny, and full of heart, "Kung Fu Kid" is a great introduction to martial arts for kids of all ages. It also carries enough references to kung fu classics, even including a drunken master scene as Kunfu-kun becomes drunk from fizzy drinks, that it can entertain even the most ardent martial arts fan.

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

"Kung Fu Kid" will be screening Saturday April 18 at 11:20am and Sunday April 19 at 9:45am at Famous Players Canada Square (2190 Yonge Street, at Yonge and Eglinton) as part of this year's Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children, which runs April 18-24, 2009. More info at Sprockets.ca.