Marebito is the story of Masuoka, a freelance cameraman who becomes obsessed with experiencing absolute terror. His quest begins when he and his camera happen upon a terrified man who commits suicide in the subway. Masuoka captures the whole thing on tape, and, apparently after selling the footage to a news program (hey, the guy's gotta eat!), begins studying it, and other gristly scenes he's collected, for some clue as to what was going on in the dead man's head.
While revisiting the scene, M. attempts to retrace the dead man's steps, and discovers a passage leading down deep beneath the bowels of the city, to a secret underworld populated by crazy homeless people, the spirits of the dead, and the Deros from the Shaver Mysteries hollow-earth conspiracy (look it up - classic old-school paranormal wackiness). This is where I began to suspect that M. had more wrong in his head than simply an inability to get over a bit of disturbing video footage. But at this point, we're still seeing things solely through M.'s eyes, so let's roll with it.
After a deep, philosophical conversation with the suicide victim, M. finds a naked girl chained by the ankle in a small nook. He takes her home, names her "F," and discovers that she is mute, has fangs, does not eat or drink, and seems to have never known human company. He tries to befriend and help her, but she gradually becomes weaker until he discovers her taste for blood. Of course, this being a horror film, he has to start killing people in order to keep F fed. Disturbingly, M.'s first victim is a "crazy" woman who has been following him around, "claiming" to be his ex-wife, and demanding to know what has become of their daughter. Yeah, M.'s definitely got some serious mental problems.
Now, overall, I enjoy films with unreliable narrators, but they have a couple of major problems as a genre. First, there's really not that much to say in a movie that takes place entirely in one character's delusional world except, "This guy's batsh*t crazy." The first time you see one, it's an amazing trick; the second time, a nifty puzzle; but after a while, they all start to blend together. And second, once you've figured out that what you're seeing are the viewpoint character's hallucinations, all bets are off, anything can happen, and suspense goes out the window.
Marebito, however, is saved from also-ran status by the masterful direction of Takashi Shimizu and an excellent performance by Shinya Tsukamoto as Masuoka. Apart from a few conversations in the underworld, and the angry, desperate accusations of the "crazy woman." there is virtually no dialog, only the narrative observations of M., locking us in his imaginary world for most of the film. And although M. is searching for the intense emotional experience of ultimate horror, he remains distant and disconnected from the horrors he witnesses and creates until the final scenes of the film. In addition, the story has a strong mythological resonance - in particular the descent into the underworld sequence brings to mind Orpheus, Innanna, and countless other stories.
In short, this is an extremely well-handled version of a story that's been told many, many times before. It makes me wish I hadn't seen so many other versions of the story so that I could have enjoyed it that much more.
While revisiting the scene, M. attempts to retrace the dead man's steps, and discovers a passage leading down deep beneath the bowels of the city, to a secret underworld populated by crazy homeless people, the spirits of the dead, and the Deros from the Shaver Mysteries hollow-earth conspiracy (look it up - classic old-school paranormal wackiness). This is where I began to suspect that M. had more wrong in his head than simply an inability to get over a bit of disturbing video footage. But at this point, we're still seeing things solely through M.'s eyes, so let's roll with it.
After a deep, philosophical conversation with the suicide victim, M. finds a naked girl chained by the ankle in a small nook. He takes her home, names her "F," and discovers that she is mute, has fangs, does not eat or drink, and seems to have never known human company. He tries to befriend and help her, but she gradually becomes weaker until he discovers her taste for blood. Of course, this being a horror film, he has to start killing people in order to keep F fed. Disturbingly, M.'s first victim is a "crazy" woman who has been following him around, "claiming" to be his ex-wife, and demanding to know what has become of their daughter. Yeah, M.'s definitely got some serious mental problems.
Now, overall, I enjoy films with unreliable narrators, but they have a couple of major problems as a genre. First, there's really not that much to say in a movie that takes place entirely in one character's delusional world except, "This guy's batsh*t crazy." The first time you see one, it's an amazing trick; the second time, a nifty puzzle; but after a while, they all start to blend together. And second, once you've figured out that what you're seeing are the viewpoint character's hallucinations, all bets are off, anything can happen, and suspense goes out the window.
Marebito, however, is saved from also-ran status by the masterful direction of Takashi Shimizu and an excellent performance by Shinya Tsukamoto as Masuoka. Apart from a few conversations in the underworld, and the angry, desperate accusations of the "crazy woman." there is virtually no dialog, only the narrative observations of M., locking us in his imaginary world for most of the film. And although M. is searching for the intense emotional experience of ultimate horror, he remains distant and disconnected from the horrors he witnesses and creates until the final scenes of the film. In addition, the story has a strong mythological resonance - in particular the descent into the underworld sequence brings to mind Orpheus, Innanna, and countless other stories.
In short, this is an extremely well-handled version of a story that's been told many, many times before. It makes me wish I hadn't seen so many other versions of the story so that I could have enjoyed it that much more.