Marebito Doesn't Totally Mare-Bite
Marebito (2004, Takashi Shimizu) does not deserve the critical thrashing it received upon release. It's not as flashy or polished as Shimizu's The Grudge, but it's better for it. It really reminds me--in tone more than content--of Inland Empire. Both films have a creepy, rambling feel, despite Marebito being half (!) IE's three-hour runtime. The film was pounded by critics for not following up on many of its (allegedly) half-baked concepts. There are a LOT of ideas floating around in this story and sometimes the less-than-completely-hashed-out ones do distract from stronger threads in the tale. It is creepy more than scary, but I think that's what Shimizu was going for. The protagonist is a videographer (Shinya Tsukamoto) who is in search of genuine terror, to capture it on tape and to burn it into his own mind, consciousness. As the film progresses, we learn these two paths are inextricably linked for this tortured soul, and that he also serves as a microcosm for our increasingly media-saturated world. Experiencing something on a screen comes to substitute for reality. There is a certain Baudrillardian charm to this concept, (simulacra and simulacrum, copies of copies become reality), but it is a bit shopworn. Tsukamoto gives a great performance. How appropriate that he play in a sort of Asian Inland Empire since he is the (thanks, Hunter D.) "Asian David Lynch". More on Tsukamoto in a moment ...
Re-Cycle This Movie Now. By Incinerating It.
Re-Cycle (Pang Brothers, 2006) seems to be going for a sort of Pan's Labyrinth thing but, for me, falls a little short. OK, a lot short. It starts out pretty strong: A writer (Angelica Lee) starts experiencing horrors she's writing about -- and writing about horrors she's experiencing -- in a sort of terrifying loop. Then she falls into an alternate reality where meaningless CGI virtuosity goes to die. The End. Seriously, there are like a 2nd and 3rd act which take place completely in this cgi world that is sporadically beautiful, wholly artificial and never, ever, the slightest bit scary. Lee does as good a job as anybody reacting to shite that's not there, but this middle section is so lacking in emotional content and plot that it seems like a totally pointless exercise ... But Lee is a real looker. I mean, really cute. So there's that.
Vital
Now, back to Shinya Tsukamoto, my new hero. New bud Hunter D. (who turned me on to all three of these movies -- I forgive you for Re-Cycle because Vital is so freaking brilliant) was telling me about Tsukamoto who, as I mentioned above, stars in Marebito. So I'm kind of a Johnny-come-lately Asian horror guy, and I managed to miss Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which I'm watching tonight. Hear it's brilliant, really similar to Eraserhead, etc. So Vital (2004) is brilliant. A young man (Tadanobu Asano) is in a horrible car crash. He survives but his girlfriend dies ... then winds up on the dissection table at Asano's medical school. For him to dissect. Yeah. He has no memories of his dead love, so in dissecting her corpse, he hopes to find answers: about her, about himself, about the nature of life and the universe. This isn't a horror film. And the dissection scenes are surprisingly less disturbing than just sort of oddly moving and beautiful. A fellow med student (Kiki!) falls in love with Asano. And is super-duper jealous of the dead girl. As the dissection continues over 4 months, Asano starts having vivid, flashback-cum-dreams about his girlfriend -- not exactly memories so much as new experiences with her spirit. There are real memories woven into the story. This gets a little confusing, in a good way, for us and Asano, as he and we try to figure out what "reality" is. Sounds pretentious, a little, I know, but it's not, because it's the deepest question there is but it's explored so deftly and beautifully that it soars. I mean this is just a gorgeous and moving motion picture and I can't even talk about it any more yet because I'm still processing how freaking awesome it is. So just go see it. Rent immediately.
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