** Spoileresque ** It's difficult to know what my reaction to this film is. I have several, they're strong and they're pulling me in different directions. Let me explain. This film sets off at a gentle pace. A bereaved husband and father sets out to look for a new wife when his son says he's looking lost. A friend of his in the film industry sets up an 'audition', superficially trying to discover an unknown actress but actually trying to find him the young, trained, traditional Japanese wife he would like. Just like his previous partner and not at all like those awful young, loud, girls in bars. He falls for one; an ex-ballet dancer forced to give up dancing because of a dodgy hip. But his producer friends thinks something's amiss, and he's not wrong...
And so the film goes by. The director has said he set out to bore the audience for the first two thirds of the film. The producer in the audition asks one candidate if she has 'seen any films by Tarkovsky'. I'm assuming this is an aside to the audience saying 'yes, this is deliberately slow, please gently fall asleep in your seats, get used to it'. I, determined to be stubborn, enjoyed it. It sets up the characters well, especially the lead. A damaged soul, still hurting from the loss. Cajoled into looking to fill that gap by those around him, he cheers up. He fishes for her, hoping for the big catch. He looks like getting lucky. He dares to have hopes. A new life beckons and slowly builds. I didn't really think it was that slow or boring. But then I like Tarkovsky.
The purpose of this alleged boredom of course, is that it all ends up with acupuncture nightmares, missing persons, child abuse and discarded digits all in graphic technicolour terror vision. If you didn't know it was coming, you would have ended up with your popcorn all over the person in front of you, including the popcorn you were contentedly digesting.
It would be easy to read this film as a misandrist/gynophobic horror. It might be taken as a more specifically culturally Japanese lament for the passing of a way of life, a la 'Tokyo Story'. You could note that the jumbled chronology or hallucinatory structure of the horror segment could indicate uncertainty. Did it really happen or are those his fears? You could note that it's his son that kills Asami, the traditional (albeit psychotic) being destroyed by the newer generation. You might think that Asami is a Nemesis, born from the violent suppression of women through time.
You could do all of these things however, I think it's a cut and shunt job. I like both sections on their own, but stick 'em together and it feels like I can still see the tape holding the two sets of spliced film stock together. These themes deserve exploration and I'd love to see the missing two halves to the two parts we've seen. Together it's a dislocated joint in my brain, albeit a well-executed and compelling one.
Imagine the sensation if the loss and hope in the first half could have made it through to be confronted by the psychosis and nightmares of the second. Instead they're misplaced somewhere in the confusion of a drugged glass of whisky and the director's desire to stupefy us into submission. Despite Asami's philosophy of getting at reality through pain, I don't think this film was painful enough, although I can't think of any part of it I didn't like. My reactions to the film may be contrary but they don't hurt enough. Deeper, please.
And so the film goes by. The director has said he set out to bore the audience for the first two thirds of the film. The producer in the audition asks one candidate if she has 'seen any films by Tarkovsky'. I'm assuming this is an aside to the audience saying 'yes, this is deliberately slow, please gently fall asleep in your seats, get used to it'. I, determined to be stubborn, enjoyed it. It sets up the characters well, especially the lead. A damaged soul, still hurting from the loss. Cajoled into looking to fill that gap by those around him, he cheers up. He fishes for her, hoping for the big catch. He looks like getting lucky. He dares to have hopes. A new life beckons and slowly builds. I didn't really think it was that slow or boring. But then I like Tarkovsky.
The purpose of this alleged boredom of course, is that it all ends up with acupuncture nightmares, missing persons, child abuse and discarded digits all in graphic technicolour terror vision. If you didn't know it was coming, you would have ended up with your popcorn all over the person in front of you, including the popcorn you were contentedly digesting.
It would be easy to read this film as a misandrist/gynophobic horror. It might be taken as a more specifically culturally Japanese lament for the passing of a way of life, a la 'Tokyo Story'. You could note that the jumbled chronology or hallucinatory structure of the horror segment could indicate uncertainty. Did it really happen or are those his fears? You could note that it's his son that kills Asami, the traditional (albeit psychotic) being destroyed by the newer generation. You might think that Asami is a Nemesis, born from the violent suppression of women through time.
You could do all of these things however, I think it's a cut and shunt job. I like both sections on their own, but stick 'em together and it feels like I can still see the tape holding the two sets of spliced film stock together. These themes deserve exploration and I'd love to see the missing two halves to the two parts we've seen. Together it's a dislocated joint in my brain, albeit a well-executed and compelling one.
Imagine the sensation if the loss and hope in the first half could have made it through to be confronted by the psychosis and nightmares of the second. Instead they're misplaced somewhere in the confusion of a drugged glass of whisky and the director's desire to stupefy us into submission. Despite Asami's philosophy of getting at reality through pain, I don't think this film was painful enough, although I can't think of any part of it I didn't like. My reactions to the film may be contrary but they don't hurt enough. Deeper, please.