Siren
Visual
R4
DVD
This
is an unusual anthology of four very stylistically different films, based on
the masterpieces of great Japanese mystery writer, Edogawa Rampo (a pseudonym
based on Edgar Allan Poe). While each of the stories are produced by different
directors, they all encode similar themes and explore a range of overarching
themes and ideas. These strange excursions into madness are entitled Mars’
Canal, Mirror Hell, Caterpillar and Crawling Bugs.
As
the first experience begins you are confronted with a very strange
presentation. There is a naked man crawling along the canals of Mars, it is deadly
silent and there is a stark feel of nothingness interspersed with scenes of
sexual conflict and violence. There is literally no sound and you become quite
disoriented by the way in which the first scenes unfold, however, as you get
used to the starkness of the pieces certain concepts come to mind.
These
ideas really underpin the reoccurring motifs of the whole series, regardless of
whether they are more narrative (such as Mirror Hell) or more conceptual (such
as Mars’ Canal). Throughout these tales we are exploring issues relating to
intimacy and distance, sex and death and love and betrayal. While each is
expressed in a very different way, each one reflects on a facet of the question
of how we relate to others. There is also a semi lineal link made between the
films by the use of a “Sherlock Holmes” type character known as Mr.Akechi, but
his real significance is more as a link between different modes of the film and
is somewhat peripheral.
In
“Mirror Hell” we have a fairly straight forward narrative tale, beautifully
shot and filled with powerful images and unusual concepts. It is essentially a
Narcissus tale where a young man sees himself reflected in the woman around
him. However, the more he loves them, he more he feels he is losing “himself”
in them. This leads to a feeling of resentment and anger with his sexual life
become more focused on domination and bondage, until, finally murder results. Akio
Jissôji certainly uses unusual methods to express these ideas including a
secret tradition of Shadow Mirror magic, microwave metals moulded into mirrors which
melt people’s faces and a range of quirky scientific mystical amalgams. It is a
fascinating exploration of self obsession and the inability to experience
others except as reflections of oneself (hence the mirror), it ends, explosively
with the beautiful Torus smashing through the mirror and becoming part of it.
The
Caterpillar is certainly an astounding perverse and dark piece of cinema. It
mixes a strange and dark tale of obsession and control with a phantasmagoria of
images and iconography. The emphasis is constantly on caterpillars and
butterflies and once again on mirrors. Throughout all episodes the concept of
the mirror is used to reflect a different aspect of intimacy or lack of it,
whether it be self obsession as in Mirror Hell or the avoidance of the Mirror
in the Caterpillar as it reflects the frightening level that of control Tokiko
holds over her husband.
Omori
is a war veteran, it seems he has been badly injured in the war (indeed, turned
into a drooling, limbless caterpillar) looked after by his devoted wife. But as
the story unfolds, her brutality against him becomes more explicit and extreme.
We realize that to stop him going to war she removed his limbs and turned him
into the supposed “War God” or Veteran that he is. This is a powerful
exploration of obsession and ownership; it is brutal, confronting and at times
extremely disturbing. As the story continues, she is confronted with her own
madness and ends up joining her husband as a caterpillar with the assistance of
a young art student who seem their “transformation” as a work of art!
The
last segment Crawling Bugs is another astounding exploration. This time we find
Masaki is obsessed with the actress Fuyou Kinoshita for which he works. However,
Masaki has a problem; he is obsessed with cleanliness, germs and bugs and
cannot perceive contact with another human being except as unclean. His love
for Fuyou Kinoshita is hence akin to the way the Medieval Chivalric tradition saw
the ideal woman – distant, on a pedestal, perfect, clean and untouchable. Of
course, as he sees more and more of her life, including her strange sexual predilections
involving bugs, he becomes more and more disturbed. It is difficult to decode
how much of these sequences are dreams, hallucinations or reality.
In
any event, as he becomes more and more fixated on saving Fuyou Kinoshita from
her impending impurity, his skin disease degenerates as well as his mental
state. Finally, his desire to suspend her in purity leads him to kill her.
However,
death is not the end, he cannot sustain her in a pure state, the germs and bugs
returns. He tries to clean her and then embalm her, but to no avail, putrefaction
is setting in. He then tries to cover her in plaster and paint her thereby
changing her into a living doll. By this
stage he is somewhat obviously moving
into a state of psychosis. The film ends as he is discovered with her head inside
her rotting body.
This
is a fascinating and powerful series of visual experiences, crossing boundaries
between horror, eroticism, madness and emotional dysfunction using the most stunning
visual imagery you will have seen in a long time. Rampo Noir is like a long
dream with rambling stories, intrusions of strange characters, undefined sexual
elements and occasional nightmares. It is a stunning work of cinema.