Rampo (1994)
Oct. 30th, 2007 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersAlso known as The Mystery of Rampo, this Japanese movie is based on the life and work of the mystery-horror writer Edogawa Rampo, who took his pseudonym from the Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allen Poe. The film is a collage, although it does tell a story. It begins with an anime version of one of Rampo's stories, about a man who climbs into an old chest and is locked into it by his wife. It then turns to a live action scene set in the '20s in which Rampo's novel is censored by the government for "aberrant moral content." Rampo burns the manuscript, but soon thereafter the events of the novel begin to show up in real life -- a newspaper story about a woman whose husband died of suffocation in an old chest. Rampo seeks out the woman, but when he becomes unable to deal with her conflicted needs (or perhaps his own), he starts to write a novel about her. At that point the movie transforms into a romantic (if also sadomasochistic) adventure story starring his famous detective character, Kogoro Akechi, who follows the mysterious woman to the seacoast mansion of the mother-fixated, cross-dressing Duke Ogawara.
I picked up this movie because I'd watched Kinji Fukasaku's adaptation of Rampo's Kogoro Akechi story, Black Lizard (1968), and the perverse, florid, though only loosely-related, follow-up, Black Rose Mansion (1969). I loved their decadence and formalism. I was fascinated by what I read about Rampo, and this movie is a mesmerizing exploration of the imagination and the creative process. As with so many movies that I find compelling, the narrative is convoluted and hard to follow, while the imagery and symbolism and music are very beautiful. The collage of different kinds of film -- which also includes stock footage from the silent era, scenes from a '50s serial adaptation of one of Rampo's novels, and some kind of stag film that is projected onto the body of a naked woman in a vivid, sexy scene -- creates a house of mirrors atmosphere. There's a special effects sequence at the very end that is a little too reminiscent of the finale of 2001 and relies a little too much on early computer graphics, but it still manages to express a sense of creative rapture and release and dissolution that fits very well into the story.
I recognized the actor playing Duke Ogawara from seeing him play another monstrous aristocrat in Princess Raccoon (2005) and the actor playing Kogoro Akechi from seeing him in The Bird People in China (1998), where he was the bland, handsome salaryman. Those are two of my very favorite Japanese movies of recent years. This one probably isn't quite as good, but I need to watch it again. Jasper Sharp at Midnight Eye has an excellent review with a lot of information about Edogawa Rampo and the complicated production of this film.
I picked up this movie because I'd watched Kinji Fukasaku's adaptation of Rampo's Kogoro Akechi story, Black Lizard (1968), and the perverse, florid, though only loosely-related, follow-up, Black Rose Mansion (1969). I loved their decadence and formalism. I was fascinated by what I read about Rampo, and this movie is a mesmerizing exploration of the imagination and the creative process. As with so many movies that I find compelling, the narrative is convoluted and hard to follow, while the imagery and symbolism and music are very beautiful. The collage of different kinds of film -- which also includes stock footage from the silent era, scenes from a '50s serial adaptation of one of Rampo's novels, and some kind of stag film that is projected onto the body of a naked woman in a vivid, sexy scene -- creates a house of mirrors atmosphere. There's a special effects sequence at the very end that is a little too reminiscent of the finale of 2001 and relies a little too much on early computer graphics, but it still manages to express a sense of creative rapture and release and dissolution that fits very well into the story.
I recognized the actor playing Duke Ogawara from seeing him play another monstrous aristocrat in Princess Raccoon (2005) and the actor playing Kogoro Akechi from seeing him in The Bird People in China (1998), where he was the bland, handsome salaryman. Those are two of my very favorite Japanese movies of recent years. This one probably isn't quite as good, but I need to watch it again. Jasper Sharp at Midnight Eye has an excellent review with a lot of information about Edogawa Rampo and the complicated production of this film.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 07:46 pm (UTC)And I had to look up 'YMMV' which shows just how out of it I truly am.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 02:10 pm (UTC)But I can relate to the intense fears. I can still remember my brother pulling the "mom's calling you" routine on me when I was probably five myself and getting freaked out by a monster on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 02:11 pm (UTC)