Directed by Akio Jissoji (1988)
Starring Shintaro Katsu, Kyusaku Shimada, Mieko Harada
Region 2 DVD
Japanese Audio, English Subtitles
Masakado was executed one thousand years ago for crimes against Humanity but his spirit refuses to die and lies dormant beneath Tokyo. If awakened, he will wreak a terrible vengeance on the city.
The evil sorcerer Kato uses his powers to attempt a revival of the ancient and slumbering malevolence. If he succeeds, Tokyo will become Hell On Earth!
A single spiritual warrior and descendant of Masakado must prevent Kato from fulfilling his dream and prevent the ancient curse from being unleashed upon the world.
Set in earthquake plagued Tokyo in the 1920s, this movie provides a setting that is a delicate canvas upon which the great battle between Good and Evil must unfold. With some competent cinematography, we watch the many this faceted tale unfold in a mixture of Stop-Motion animation and special lighting effects. I won’t say that I fully understood everything that went on in this movie but its general theme seems to be one of the spiritual world being cast aside in favour of the industrial age – and this appears to be the crux of the struggle within the story.
There were moments that left me perplexed – the score for example. I was surprised to hear the opening strains of Wagner’s Das Rheingold Prelude used as a motif throughout this movie. At first, this seemed to clash with the very Eastern feel of this film. But, as the storyline progresses, you begin to realise that the director is looking to create something big here – something epic. And with that in mind the choice of music carries a sense of logic about it – you don’t get much bigger than Wagner. Whether it actually worked is another matter.
The special effects look dated but functional. One point: it seems that H.R. Geiger was involved in this project in some way. Given his very original and distinct style, I have to admit to finding nothing in this film which even hints at any participation by the Swiss artist.
The film definitely does have serious problems. As I mentioned earlier, I found the whole story very hard to follow as it jumped between characters (there are quite a few). Perhaps it was the translation or perhaps I’m guilty of being unable to fully grasp everything in front of me. Either way, I was left with the distinct feeling that one viewing is not enough – and running at 135 minutes, it’s not often I’ll be prepared to sit and watch something that seems so incomprehensible in places. And, let’s face it, if you are having trouble comprehending, you usually tend to get a bit bored. This happened to me.
Another serious problem is the image quality. It looks like a straight port from video to DVD and all that goes with it (grainy image, colour bleed, poor sound etc. etc.)
I really wanted to like this movie much more than I did because it has a certain something about it that tries to draw you back to it but there simply are just too many problems and flaws for this to be an enjoyable experience. The more I think upon the script, the more I think the flaws lie there (and not in my lack of understanding). It is fractured and messy in places. This film tried to be an epic but becomes a lacklustre bundle of images interspersed with dialogue and storyline that become little more than confusing and irritating.
It could have been so much more.
4 out of 10
A word of advice: don’t drink while you watch this movie, it’s hard enough to understand when you’re sober.
Starring Shintaro Katsu, Kyusaku Shimada, Mieko Harada
Region 2 DVD
Japanese Audio, English Subtitles
Masakado was executed one thousand years ago for crimes against Humanity but his spirit refuses to die and lies dormant beneath Tokyo. If awakened, he will wreak a terrible vengeance on the city.
The evil sorcerer Kato uses his powers to attempt a revival of the ancient and slumbering malevolence. If he succeeds, Tokyo will become Hell On Earth!
A single spiritual warrior and descendant of Masakado must prevent Kato from fulfilling his dream and prevent the ancient curse from being unleashed upon the world.
Set in earthquake plagued Tokyo in the 1920s, this movie provides a setting that is a delicate canvas upon which the great battle between Good and Evil must unfold. With some competent cinematography, we watch the many this faceted tale unfold in a mixture of Stop-Motion animation and special lighting effects. I won’t say that I fully understood everything that went on in this movie but its general theme seems to be one of the spiritual world being cast aside in favour of the industrial age – and this appears to be the crux of the struggle within the story.
There were moments that left me perplexed – the score for example. I was surprised to hear the opening strains of Wagner’s Das Rheingold Prelude used as a motif throughout this movie. At first, this seemed to clash with the very Eastern feel of this film. But, as the storyline progresses, you begin to realise that the director is looking to create something big here – something epic. And with that in mind the choice of music carries a sense of logic about it – you don’t get much bigger than Wagner. Whether it actually worked is another matter.
The special effects look dated but functional. One point: it seems that H.R. Geiger was involved in this project in some way. Given his very original and distinct style, I have to admit to finding nothing in this film which even hints at any participation by the Swiss artist.
The film definitely does have serious problems. As I mentioned earlier, I found the whole story very hard to follow as it jumped between characters (there are quite a few). Perhaps it was the translation or perhaps I’m guilty of being unable to fully grasp everything in front of me. Either way, I was left with the distinct feeling that one viewing is not enough – and running at 135 minutes, it’s not often I’ll be prepared to sit and watch something that seems so incomprehensible in places. And, let’s face it, if you are having trouble comprehending, you usually tend to get a bit bored. This happened to me.
Another serious problem is the image quality. It looks like a straight port from video to DVD and all that goes with it (grainy image, colour bleed, poor sound etc. etc.)
I really wanted to like this movie much more than I did because it has a certain something about it that tries to draw you back to it but there simply are just too many problems and flaws for this to be an enjoyable experience. The more I think upon the script, the more I think the flaws lie there (and not in my lack of understanding). It is fractured and messy in places. This film tried to be an epic but becomes a lacklustre bundle of images interspersed with dialogue and storyline that become little more than confusing and irritating.
It could have been so much more.
4 out of 10
A word of advice: don’t drink while you watch this movie, it’s hard enough to understand when you’re sober.
