The *other* infamous bone-throwing-in-the-air scene in cinema history (though in this case bones plural is more accurate).
Iwao Enokizu is that rarity: an antagonist who also acts as the protagonist in his own story. This doesn't mean he is the only significant character going on here. There's also Iwao's long suffering father, and the woman Iwao decides to marry, sort of on a whim to piss them off, even as he doesn't love her (and has kids with them, who we barely see, making him not a father much at all) and leaves them behind after he gets out of prison and starts his killing spree, and most important possibly is the woman who runs an Inn-chm-brothel where Iwao gets into an unlikely relationship with her while she fights constantly with her own mother (Iwao by the way is in disguise initially as a professor, and Ogata, who you might remember as one of the Mishimas in Paul Schrader's film, has an unassuming look that is to his advantage even as his face is plastered on wanted posters). But this does mean that he drives the action forward, is the one we're seeing this story progress with, and yet it is always clear that Imamura doesn't mean for us to identify with him.
That doesn't mean, on the other hand, that Imamura shoots his film or has his script be so cold that we dont see humanity happen. Or, most importantly, that despite the brutal kills (and there are some harrowing and nasty murders here, some with blood, others just by how intense its played and how unflinching it is with camera angles and editing), Iwao is always shown as human, and the main supporting cast around him are fully fleshed out beings who live their own lives not always connected to him. Indeed, there's the whole subplot (of sorts) with Iwao's dad and the dad's daughter-in-law and their burgeoning love (there's an extremely sensual scene between the two of them at a hot spring and, for all the sex Iwao does with other characters, he is never this... Intimate).
This film is startling and shocking not (or not just) for the acts of violence and sex that occur - though they are shown graphically, and while I dont think Imamura is a director who in any way (at least on a first viewing) I can sense has a dislike or problem with women, he is depicting violence against them, both physically and mentally, and nearly every major speaking female role here has to deal with rapey and forceful and abusive men, and if you need a content-warning for that before you watch, there you go - but for the layers of humanity that it strips away until bare.
It would be easy to show Iwao as a guy who is simply out for blood, but he is also not what we see in serial killer movies as the other type of the super-genius killer. He's not Leatherface or Lecter. He's just a man who started doing other crimes and being rebellious as a kid, as we see in flashbacks, and even went to jail for a time, but once he kills there's an intelligence (a conman element to him, like scamming strangers out of money like as a fake lawyer in court, is a darkly comedic scene and there are a few here, another surprise for me given the early scenes) but also real emotion too.
This woman at this Inn, Haru, loves Iwao even after she finds out that he is a killer on the run; actually, much to Iwao's at first bafflement, acceptance and then embracing, she has an even greater love for him after her initial shock wears off. There's an extremism to how this relationship unfolds, but because Imamura has taken the time to develop things, almost imperceptibly building up the dynamic in this slow burn of a film (it runs long enough that I anticipate it moving quicker on another watch), it doesn't feel that unrealistic. His approach leans towards documentary realism, but there's times he will rely on a long take not just because it makes the most sense but for psychological realism. And he does cut away when he should or has to, but how long at times we stay on a scene and he confidently keeps characters in a medium shot, it's radically effective.
I wish I could say this was a perfect film, but it doesn't have a completely airtight structure. He cuts back to Shizuo (the "ex-ish" wife) and Kayo (dad), but those scenes with then really make an impact the most when it's still in the framing of Iwoa in the first half of the film. Once he is at the other Inn as the professor, when Imamura cuts back to them it doesn't feel right somehow. Also, I think if he had trimmed those bits it would have made a greater impact once Iwao finally does see his father again (the penultimate scene actually, which is amazing).
This complaint aside, this is a truly engrossing and unusual epic that I plan on revisiting some day - maybe not right away, but certainly I will get this on bluray - and it has such a committed and sparingly simple performance by Ogata, simple as in he isn't pulling punches with how he gets to the ugliest truths of this man.
Damn Japanese Catholics, man. And I thought Silence was the most disturbing Japanese-set story involving that!
Iwao Enokizu is that rarity: an antagonist who also acts as the protagonist in his own story. This doesn't mean he is the only significant character going on here. There's also Iwao's long suffering father, and the woman Iwao decides to marry, sort of on a whim to piss them off, even as he doesn't love her (and has kids with them, who we barely see, making him not a father much at all) and leaves them behind after he gets out of prison and starts his killing spree, and most important possibly is the woman who runs an Inn-chm-brothel where Iwao gets into an unlikely relationship with her while she fights constantly with her own mother (Iwao by the way is in disguise initially as a professor, and Ogata, who you might remember as one of the Mishimas in Paul Schrader's film, has an unassuming look that is to his advantage even as his face is plastered on wanted posters). But this does mean that he drives the action forward, is the one we're seeing this story progress with, and yet it is always clear that Imamura doesn't mean for us to identify with him.
That doesn't mean, on the other hand, that Imamura shoots his film or has his script be so cold that we dont see humanity happen. Or, most importantly, that despite the brutal kills (and there are some harrowing and nasty murders here, some with blood, others just by how intense its played and how unflinching it is with camera angles and editing), Iwao is always shown as human, and the main supporting cast around him are fully fleshed out beings who live their own lives not always connected to him. Indeed, there's the whole subplot (of sorts) with Iwao's dad and the dad's daughter-in-law and their burgeoning love (there's an extremely sensual scene between the two of them at a hot spring and, for all the sex Iwao does with other characters, he is never this... Intimate).
This film is startling and shocking not (or not just) for the acts of violence and sex that occur - though they are shown graphically, and while I dont think Imamura is a director who in any way (at least on a first viewing) I can sense has a dislike or problem with women, he is depicting violence against them, both physically and mentally, and nearly every major speaking female role here has to deal with rapey and forceful and abusive men, and if you need a content-warning for that before you watch, there you go - but for the layers of humanity that it strips away until bare.
It would be easy to show Iwao as a guy who is simply out for blood, but he is also not what we see in serial killer movies as the other type of the super-genius killer. He's not Leatherface or Lecter. He's just a man who started doing other crimes and being rebellious as a kid, as we see in flashbacks, and even went to jail for a time, but once he kills there's an intelligence (a conman element to him, like scamming strangers out of money like as a fake lawyer in court, is a darkly comedic scene and there are a few here, another surprise for me given the early scenes) but also real emotion too.
This woman at this Inn, Haru, loves Iwao even after she finds out that he is a killer on the run; actually, much to Iwao's at first bafflement, acceptance and then embracing, she has an even greater love for him after her initial shock wears off. There's an extremism to how this relationship unfolds, but because Imamura has taken the time to develop things, almost imperceptibly building up the dynamic in this slow burn of a film (it runs long enough that I anticipate it moving quicker on another watch), it doesn't feel that unrealistic. His approach leans towards documentary realism, but there's times he will rely on a long take not just because it makes the most sense but for psychological realism. And he does cut away when he should or has to, but how long at times we stay on a scene and he confidently keeps characters in a medium shot, it's radically effective.
I wish I could say this was a perfect film, but it doesn't have a completely airtight structure. He cuts back to Shizuo (the "ex-ish" wife) and Kayo (dad), but those scenes with then really make an impact the most when it's still in the framing of Iwoa in the first half of the film. Once he is at the other Inn as the professor, when Imamura cuts back to them it doesn't feel right somehow. Also, I think if he had trimmed those bits it would have made a greater impact once Iwao finally does see his father again (the penultimate scene actually, which is amazing).
This complaint aside, this is a truly engrossing and unusual epic that I plan on revisiting some day - maybe not right away, but certainly I will get this on bluray - and it has such a committed and sparingly simple performance by Ogata, simple as in he isn't pulling punches with how he gets to the ugliest truths of this man.
Damn Japanese Catholics, man. And I thought Silence was the most disturbing Japanese-set story involving that!