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Posted on 08.27.06 by David @ 9:04 pm
AKA: Môjû tai Issunbôshi Review By: David Austin  In Teruo Ishii’s final film, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf, famous fictional detective Kogoro Akechi states that “There is only a fine line between genius and insanity.” No more apt words could ever be said about the career and films of Teruo Ishii, of which BBVKD is a perfect exemplar. BBVKD is also proof that not everyone mellows with age (something which seems to hold true for many prominent Japanese genre directors, witness the last film of Kinji Fukasaku, Battle Royale, or the latest from Seijun Suzuki, Princess Raccoon). Ishii died in 2005 at the age of 81 (my obituary of Ishii can be found here), but his last film is as much a grue-infested whirlwind of sex and violence as the films he made in his prime.  While Ishii made his fame and his money creating the immensely popular Abashiri Prison series of yakuza chivalry films starring Ken Takakura, his heart was rooted in the Taisho-era style known as “ero-guro” (erotic-grotesque). Ishii was a great admirer of the mystery/thriller author Edogawa Rampo (the pen name of Hirai Taro, 1894-1965), a devotee of Edgar Allen Poe (say “Edogawa Rampo” quickly) and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels. Rampo is one of the most popular Japanese authors of the modern era, and a number of his stories have made it to film, including the recent Rampo Noir and Teruo Ishii’s own infamous Horror of Malformed Men (still considered too controversial for VHS or DVD after all these years). While some of his novels were straightforward detective fiction, others explore darker, more transgressive areas of human nature, like “The Chair,” in which the protagonist conceals himself within an easy chair in order to be closer to the girl he worships. In BBVKD, Ishii has combined two Rampo stories into one narrative. “Blind Beast” (serialized in 1930-31) tells the story of a blind artist disguised as a masseur (formerly a common profession for the blind in Japan - witness the long-running Zatoichi series) in order to find the perfect female model for his “tactile sculpture.” “Blind Beast” is Rampo at his most erotic-grotesque – the sculptor keeps his unwilling models confined within his cavernous studio decorated with plaster casts of female body parts. This story was previously filmed by Yasuzo Masumura in 1969, resulting in one of the most notorious “roman porno” films of all time. While that version focused on the developing obsessive, sado-masochistic relationship between artist and model (desperate for ever-stronger sensation, the two eventually resort to cutting pieces off of each other), Ishii is far more interested the horrific aspects of the situation than the psychological.  “The Dwarf” (serialized in 1926-27) was one in a long-running series of mysteries featuring Kogoro Akechi. This extremely popular eccentric sleuth was the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction, and Rampo’s answer to Sherlock Holmes. Here, Akechi is embodied by Ishii’s fellow director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man, Tokyo Fist, A Snake of June). Tsukamoto, who frequently acts in his own films and also put in a turn in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, can always be relied on for a odd performance - his thick face and heavy eyelids impart an air of mystery and otherworldliness. His Akechi is an odd fellow, somewhat flamboyant in a maroon silk suit and capelet.  In BBKVD, Akechi teams up with old friend and mystery novelist Kobayashi Monzo (oddly-named newcomer Lily Franky) to solve two simultaneous disappearances. On one side of town, Kobayashi is enlisted by an old female friend (Reika Hashimoto) to find her missing stepdaughter. On the other, famous burlesque dancer Ranko Mizuki (Mutsuki Fujita) vanishes after a show.  Ranko has been imprisoned by the Blind Beast (Hisayoshi Hirayama) within his lightless studio, limned with plaster cast impressions of arms, legs, breasts and other body parts. She is unable to escape and soon the erotic fascination becomes mutual. Meanwhile, Kobayashi observes a dwarf (Japanese dwarf wrestler Little Frankie) in a nearby park carrying what appears to be human arm. Soon thereafter, female body parts begin turning up public art displays, most audaciously inside the plaster cast of a nude female body tied by a leash to the well-known statue of Saigo Takamori walking his dog in Tokyo’s Uehara Park. BBKVD is a visually interesting film, but rarely an attractive one. It is extremely low budget, and Ishii shot it on digital video. As a result, the footage has a somewhat choppy, washed-out feeling, like a Japanese soap opera, and the images are not as clear as one might like. However, the film suffers less from this than one might expect. Frankly, Ishii’s aesthetic was never centered on beauty anyway – unlike fellow ero-guro filmmaker Norifumi Suzuki (see screen shots here for an example). Ishii has never been very concerned with cinematography. Much of the camerawork is handheld and shaky, as Ishii pursues his actors through dingy alleys and claustrophobic houses. A few shots stand out – for example, brilliant fall foliage during an outside conversation between Akechi and Kobayashi, and the brightly-lit and costumed revue – but their presence only serves to emphasize the drabness of the remainder of the proceedings.  Rather than focus on composition and visual appeal, Ishii has done the opposite, trapping the viewer in claustrophobic spaces with disgusting or shocking images. Hisayoshi Hirayama in particular is positively repellent as the Blind Beast – his wet lips, hairy hands, stained teeth, sleazy moustache, cadaverous body, and searching hands evoke nothing so much as a quivering, naked mole-rat. Ishii also creates a unifying visual theme of body parts – victims are dismembered and their limbs left around town (one is sent aloft attached to children’s balloons!), his studio walls are covered with disembodied plaster extremities, and the Dwarf hides out in his brother’s mannequin workshop. Ishii rounds out the grotesque with the erotic – he’s never shied away from exploiting the female body. Here, he has cast the film largely with unknowns willing to shed their clothes as necessary – as Roger Corman used to say, nudity is the cheapest special effect.  Overall, BBVKD is strangely engaging, despite the unpleasant imagery, the digital video and the failure of the two narratives to successfully dovetail. The oddly diffident performance of Lily Franky works surprisingly well – he evokes the “anything goes” intellectual attitude of the Taisho era - and Little Frankie is sympathetic as the Dwarf, who is unable to find peace even in a circus. Ishii’s sly sense of humor also frequently shines through the horror – distinguished actor Tetsuro Tamba (Happiness of the Katakuris, You Only Live Twice) has a fun cameo at the end of the film as an art critic who bestows the ultimate kiss of death on the Blind Beast’s sculpture. BBVKD is no masterpiece, but Rampo would have been proud. Recommended? Yes, to connoisseurs of Taisho era “ero-guro nonsense,” and fans of radical, fringe filmmaking in general, though BBKVD is certainly not for the average filmgoer. If you like this, you might like: The Executioners, Sex and Fury, Ichi the Killer, A Snake of June, Blind Beast, Tokyo Fist, Zigeunerweisen, Vengeance is Mine, Double Suicide, Female Convict Scorpion 2 DVD DETAILS DVD Production Company: Panik House (www.panikhouse.com) Panik House presents BBKVD in its original 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio. While the picture is far from perfect, this is the fault of the digital medium on which it was shot, not the DVD presentation. The package contains a sticker reproducing the cover artwork and a limited edition insert card bearing the personal stamp of Little Frankie. Also on the disc are trailers for BBVKD, Screwed and Female Yakuza Tale.  Panik House also provides its usual fine array of extras. First up are still, poster and production images – the posters in particular are worth a view. The production notes do not add anything to the packaging, but Chris D. has provided informative and detailed biographies for Edogawa Rampo and Teruo Ishii (including an exhaustive filmography for the latter). It is notable that Panik House is now presenting its collection of stills alongside the text instead of beneath them, a much more satisfactory arrangement for which I am grateful. There is also a fun gallery of conceptual art by New York artist GEA. Finally, the last and best extra is a behind-the-scenes “making of” featurette. More interesting than such things usually are, the documentary introduces many members of the crew and shows what a labor of love the production was. Ishii self-produced the film, and many of the crew were young enthusiasts and fellow Rampo fans. In fact, in addition to Tsukamoto, a number of other directors made cameo appearances in the film, including Sion Sono (Suicide Club), Takao Nakano (Sumo Vixens), and Makoto Tezuka (Hakuchi). At a brief 13 minutes, it’s well worth the time.  Along with BBVKD, Panik House has also released another late Teruo Ishii film, starring Tadanobu Asano, called Screwed. They previously released Ishii’s Female Yakuza Tale (reviewed here) © David Austin Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and DVD Reviews and DVD Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Panik House and People: Teruo Ishii and People: Shinya Tsukamoto and People: Tetsuro Tamba Comments:
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