Directors: Suguru Takeuchi, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satô, Akio Jissoji
Screenplay: Atsushi Kaneko, Akio Satsukawa, Suguru Takeuchi, Shirô Yumeno
Based on Stories by: Edogawa Rampo (a.k.a. Edogawa Ranpo)
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Hiroki Narimiya, Ryuhei Matsuda, Yukiko Okamoto, Nao Ômori, Minori Terada, Yumi Yoshiyuki, Yuko Daike, Harumi Ogawa, Tamaki Ogawa
Country: Japan
Running Time: 134 min
Year: 2005
BBFC Certificate: 18
Edogawa Rampo (or Edogawa Ranpo, as he’s often credited) is an author that is well known and respected in his home country of Japan. Many people in the country come across his work when young, through his detective stories featuring a sleuth called Kogorō Akechi. However, Rampo wrote a range of books and tales that challenged readers with an approach often dubbed “erotic grotesque nonsense”.
Producer Dai Miyazaki was a fan of the author and found himself impressed with Yasuzō Masamura’s adaptation of Rampo’s Blind Beast and Akio Jissoji’s take on Murder on D Street when he watched them both in the 90s. Watching these inspired him to get the ball rolling on his own version of Rampo’s ‘Crawling Bugs’ but, around the same time, he came across Akio Satsukawa’s script for ‘Mirror Hell’, based on another Rampo story. This, alongside pre-production troubles with ‘Crawling Bugs’, led Miyazaki to come up with the idea of making an anthology Rampo film instead.
He approached four directors from markedly different backgrounds to adapt four stories from the author, allowing them to make each of their segments independently from the others. Miyazaki saw it as being like a self-contained, Rampo-themed film festival.
The resulting film, Rampo Noir, was released in 2005 and is now being released on Blu-ray by Arrow Films. Intrigued, I requested a copy and my thoughts follow.
The first segment of the film, ‘Mars’s Canal,’ was directed by Suguru Takeuchi. It’s a surreal and dreamlike near-silent short that portrays a man’s (Tadanobu Asano) descent into madness as he grapples with a traumatic memory.
The second segment is titled ‘Mirror Hell’ and was directed by Akio Jissoji. It follows Detective Kogoro Akechi (Asano again) as he investigates a series of gruesome murders linked to a cursed mirror.
‘Caterpillar’ is the third segment, which was directed by Hisayasu Satô. It centres around a disabled war veteran (Nao Ômori) who endures horrific abuse at the hands of his resentful wife (Hanae Kan).
The final segment, directed by Atsushi Kaneko, is ‘Crawling Bugs’. This delves into the disturbing obsession of a germophobic chauffeur (Asano again) with a famous actress (Tamaki Ogawa), leading him down a path of increasingly dangerous and violent actions.
A common problem with anthology films is that the quality of each episode varies. I’m pleased to say though that Rampo Noir is pretty consistent. I had favourite segments but this was largely due to personal taste. Most notably, I didn’t enjoy the unpleasant nature of Caterpillar, even if I could appreciate its artistry.
Rampo Noir did suffer slightly from another problem I have with anthology films though and that’s the fact it feels very long. With separate stories stopping and starting, it’s hard to stay fully invested for two-and-a-quarter hours.
That comes with the territory though, so let’s instead look at each segment individually. ‘Mars’s Canal’ is short, disturbing and highly experimental. First-time viewers might want to be warned that it’s completely silent for a good portion of the start of the film. Don’t worry, there isn’t a problem with your disc or player.
The story this segment was based on was reportedly inspired by a dream Rampo had and it certainly has a dream-like quality. Its director, Suguru Takeuchi, had previously worked largely on music videos, as well as some commercials. This is reflected in the segment’s short length and reliance on visual storytelling over dialogue. It’s an eye-opening and shocking little film with some stunning visuals, though I did find it a little perplexing as an opener.
With its central murder mystery narrative, ‘Mirror Hell’ is probably the easiest segment to get your head around. That’s not to say it’s a straightforward film though. It’s still a dark, twisted and occasionally bizarre tale.
Director Akio Jissoji had made two Rampo adaptations prior to being invited to direct ‘Mirror Hell’ and had been interested in making a feature-length version of that story too. ‘Mirror Hell’ was a good fit for the veteran director, as he’d always had a thing for making clever use of mirrors in his films.
Mirrors and reflections play a part in all the stories but the ‘Mirror Hell’ segment, as you might imagine, makes the best use of them. There are numerous elaborately staged shots featuring as many mirrors as they could squeeze into the frame. It must have been a nightmare to keep crew and equipment out of shot.
‘Caterpillar’ blends that Rampo story with another, ‘The Stalker in the Attic’. Its director, Hisayasu Satô, was from a pink film background and he says he wanted to make it a very tactile film. He certainly achieves this, with a grimly gruesome short containing mutilation and plenty of bodily fluids. As mentioned, I found this difficult viewing but it’s stylishly presented with artful compositions and an unusual use of light and colour.
As mentioned, ‘Crawling Bugs’ was directed by Atsushi Kaneko, whose background was in writing manga. He’d been involved in a couple of films before this but not directed any features. This makes him an unusual choice but I found his segment one of the most satisfying of the four, alongside ‘Mirror Hell’. Miyazaki must have cannily seen something in Kaneko’s manga that suited cinema.
Great use is made of colour in this section, particularly in the boldly artifical-looking fantasy sequences. There’s a little more dark humour in this one too.
On top of Rampo’s stories, one actor ties the films together, Tadanobu Asano. Asano was the biggest star in the film at the time and he’s since made moves into Hollywood, featuring in the recent Shōgun mini series and the Thor movies among many other high profile projects. He gets to show his range here in three markedly different roles (in ‘Caterpillar’ he appears again as the character he plays in ‘Mirror Hell’, Kogoro Akechi).
The segments all have unique and exciting visual styles, which help draw you into their strange worlds. It occasionally has that clean, crisp, low-budget look common to a lot of Japanese films of the era, but it wasn’t a big budget film and the playful uses of colour, reflections, production design and locations more than make up for it.
It’s not an easy film to watch though, overall. This is partly due to the violent sadomasochistic sex scenes that often crop up, but also due to the surreal, occasionally ponderously artful approach of the various directors. It’s not always immediately clear what’s going on or what the filmmakers are trying to say. Rampo is better known in Japan so it might not be as strange to audiences there but Western viewers might find themselves puzzled. I think fans of Lynch’s darkest films should be able to tune into it though.
So, Rampo Noir, overall, is challenging and disturbing, yet refreshingly unique and cinematically striking. For those with the taste and stomach for it, it’s a treat.
Rampo Noir is out on 6th January on Blu-Ray, released by Arrow Video. The film looks sharp and clean, with pleasing colours. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. The audio sounds rich too.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless Japanese stereo audio
• Optional newly translated English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Jasper Sharp and Alexander Zahlten
• Another World, a new interview with Suguru Takeuchi, director of “Mars’s Canal”
• A Moving Transformation, a new interview with Hisayasu Sato, director of “Caterpillar”
• Butterfly Queen, a new interview with Atsushi Kaneko, manga artist and director of “Crawling Bugs”
• Hall of Mirrors, a new interview with cinematographer Masao Nakabori about working with Akio Jissoji and “Mirror Hell”
• The Butterfly Effect, a new interview with Akiko Ashizawa, the cinematographer of “Caterpillar”
• Looking in the Mirror, a new interview with actor Yumi Yoshiyuki about “Mirror Hell”
• Archive stage greeting footage with the cast and directors from the Japanese premiere of Rampo Noir
• Crossing the Lens, a feature-length making-of documentary by Tatsuya Fukushima from 2006
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Eugene Thacker and Seth Jacobowitz
Jasper Sharp and Alexander Zahlten provide a commentary over the film. It offers a wonderful balance of analysis, production details and historical context, as well as personal stories linked to the film. I enjoyed it a great deal.
Also included is a feature-length archival documentary on the making of the film. According to an opening blurb on this, the documentary maker Tatsuya Fukushima was told by producer Dai Miyazaki that he could approach the project in any way he chose, so long as he put some of his own personality into it. So, he decided to go for a free-flowing approach, pointing his camera at whatever felt right at the time. Or that’s how Fukushima describes it. Whatever the approach might have been, it resulted in a compelling blend of in-depth interviews and fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes material. You get a good sense of each director’s approach, as well as producer Miyazaki’s concept and inspiration.
A number of newly shot interviews make up the bulk of the rest of the material and they’re well worth watching. Cinematography Advisor Masao Nakabori is interviewed, discussing his work on ‘Mirror Hell’. He worked with the segment’s director Akio Jissoji on many films, so talks about how they first met and how they moved from TV to film, going over a number of the films and TV shows they made together. Masao would have been the cinematographer on Rampo Noir but was busy on another project so only came on set now and again to advise his assistant who he’d entrusted with the job.
Hisayasu Sato talks about directing the ‘Caterpillar’ segment. He gives his thoughts on various key members of the cast and crew, provides a few anecdotes about the production and discusses its reception. It’s an enjoyable interview.
Director Suguru Takeuchi talks about his segment, ‘Mars’s Canal’. He says he loved Rampo’s books as a youngster. He discusses his approach to colour (he was the cinematographer as well) and talks about the different aspects the story takes being made in a different era to when the book was written.
Yumi Yoshiyuki talks about her experiences acting in ‘Mirror Hell’. She’d worked with Jissoji previously on his other Rampo adaptation, ‘Murder on D Street’, so had a history with the director and material. She talks about Jissoji and some of his unusual hobbies, as well as the difficulties with filming around all those mirrors. She also has a funny anecdote about her sex scene.
Atsushi Kaneko is interviewed about his work as the director of the ‘Crawling Bugs’ segment. He talks about his background, as well as his love of Rampo’s work and how it inspired him in his career.
Cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa discusses her work on ‘Caterpillar’ in the last of the interviews I watched. She’d worked with Satô on pink films in the past, so she talks about her background with him and the genre. She then goes on to discuss their visual approach to the film.
There are also two Q&As included on the disc. These aren’t as fulfilling as the interviews, being fluffier backslapping affairs but it’s nice to hear from more members of the cast and crew from around the time of the film’s production.
I didn’t get a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
Overall, Arrow has put together an incredibly expansive collection of special features to accompany this striking film. Those with a taste for the darker, more twisted corners of Japanese cinema should certainly pick it up.
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