The Memory Lagoon - Female Convict 701 (Sasori) [1972]

The Memory Lagoon is a limited series involving second looks at previously reviewed works in hopes of attaining a more nuanced view, and perhaps..a little extra.

When Matsu(Meiko Kaji) is betrayed by corrupt cop, Sugimi(Isao Natsuyagi), the only man she ever loved, and locked in an oppressively run maximum security women's prison. From the opening scene, it is abundantly clear that the only two things surging through her tortured mind, are escape and violent revenge. It's only when Sugimi makes a pact with one of Matsu's inmates (Rie Yokoyama), when the already fevered tension between the innocent prisoner 701, and the horny, corrupt system of the prison, reaches an irrevocable bursting point. When considering the exploitation market, and what it is largely known for, one might be hard-pressed to ever consider the art level to even remotely be something to flirtatiously play with. But in the case of the first cinematic outing of Tohru Shinohara's long-haired heroine, director Shunya Ito takes an almost Seijun Suzuki route by making the world of Sasori into one of almost savage beauty. 


It is almost immediately that Ito's goal seems clear; that the film version of an already impressively violent comic was prime material for what many would eventually consider to be de rigueur for so-called "pinky violence" films of the early 1970s. And 701 lives up to this with a more impressive budget than many of its contemporaries, and with an almost hallucinatory style to cohabit the often lurid sexual violence that permeates Matsu's original adventure. The film's unique use of moody lighting, modular stages, and some truly original use of the widescreen format fuels the film to an almost point of panic. True to it's trashy roots, Matsu is subjected to all a manner of abuse, only to find that she possesses an almost superhuman endurance(a running theme in Shinohara's output). Not to mention a vicious streak that tends to incite often equally or worse violent reactions from those around.It is this element that rounds out the affair by granting it all a memorable freak factor to what could so easily have become another "women in prison" flick. It is almost as if Ito and company found themselves ready to prove their mettle regardless of the material on hand.

So when the Matsu trips up numerous attempts to destroy her within the walls of the prison in an "accident", the action finally escalates to a shocking and often jaw-dropping prison revolt.  It is within the sexual anarchy on display, that the film goes all out in search of ways to both trouble and possibly shake up certain gender predispositions. Matsu, caught between the warden and guards, and those determined to destroy her, is made into something that could possibly make even the "ironic" admirers of Riki-Oh blush. In many ways, it's hard to believe that this was made where and when it was lest readers forget the often radical politics happening on and around the streets of urban Japan during these years. It's a conservative's fiery worst nightmare that muscles beyond the confines of a the simple walls of a correctional facility, and ultimately ends on the streets of Tokyo in a memorable finale that feels lifted directly from the manga page.

Exploitation favorite, Meiko Kaji burns a deep impression as the titular heroine, a character so put-upon, so quietly simmering, that each of her victories seem incrementally huge regardless of their often questionable nature. Her performance, largely told in her eyes, is truly effective, while so many around her continue to fall victim to their own imagined stake in the game. The villains of the piece are often so over-the-top that it feels as if many are ready to burst from their own overworked blood pressures, while Kaji merely delivers a well-administered fatal push. Even as films of this ilk often engender an old world "women must be stoic" vibe, there is also a certain amount of playful humor, best encompassed by a scene involving a planted officer amongst prison ranks that backfires in a most comical fashion. For every other  "for the guys" decision of the film, there is often an equally absurd retort, which is uncharacteristically clever for the subgenre, and Kaji often makes for a singularly iconic hero that can dish out the worst with the best of the era's bushy-eyebrowed action avatars.

Video Girl Ai (1991) Movie Review

Upon discovering that the girl of his dreams is infatuated with his lifelong best friend, 16 year old Yota Moteuchi unexpectedly mourns her heartbreak upon the friend's open admission that he simply cannot return these feelings of hers. Witnessing something of a repeat of heartbreaks past, Moteuchi stumbles upon a magical video store, where he picks up a VHS tape containing what promises to be a "comfort girl" video featuring the cute and vibrant Ai Amano, ready to cheer him up. What at the offset seems to be a singularly sad moment in any young man's life, his VCR glitches, not only causing the genki starlet to appear out of his television, and into his life, but has altered a few things about her personality. Still cute & endlessly perky, she is also incredibly forceful, tomboyish, and quite inexperienced in regards to human life. Determined to help Yota with his unrequited emotions, the tale begins. The catch? Yota's malfunctioning VCR must remain on to keep Ai from vanishing, but tape is limited, and her days turning the young man's life into a carnival are seemingly finite.

Thus begins Ryu Kaneda's refreshingly earnest adaptation of Video Girl Ai, a long lost cinematic relic of the early 1990s which finally finds itself within the island of the Kaijyu, just in time for Valentine's Day 2012. Amazing how incredibly close it all hews to Masakazu Katsuura's original source material, which originally ran in Shonen Jump from 1989 through 1992, and was eventually a part of Animerica Magazine's english run several years later. It remains one of the formative manga works with a subsequent Original Video Animation series that became something of a staple in many an anime fan's collection of the time. And as a live action film, it achieves that rare state of being that in many ways meets the best tones of the original work without tipping itself into overt cartoonishness, or fan pandering. In fact, much of the film's strength simply lies in pure economic filmmaking, and in sheer timing of it's production which perfectly captures the latter days of a pastel colored Japan, and the possibilities still inherent within.


And in the hands of so many other filmmakers, this romantic comedy with a magical/supernatual edge could easily have been treated as some matter of throwaway, but with Kaneda and crew, it becomes an unexpected surprise in how it plays with the very idea of an adaptation, and takes matters in surprisingly charming ways. As Ai (played to the hilt by Kaori Sakagami) attempts to help Yota (Ken Osawa) any way she can, her very essence runs rampant against all that he has grown accustomed to in regards to life around females. Not one to scheme or play games, the once TV confined entity takes in life as a human as if making up for lost time. Taking in moments that stand out to her as benefits to Yota's character, and living life with gusto, she is the very essence that so many are missing even as money seems to be growing on trees around them. Even when discovering a pregnant passerby whilst eating shortcake, she can't seem to contain herself in her curious nature. In fact, Sakagami's performance is one for the books as being one of the most natural transitions from manga page to film I have ever seen.



And this becomes all the more important as one of the glitching VCR's "side effects" is that of strong emotions brewing within the character who has normally been designed to never get personal in any manner toward their tape renting charges. What could have so simply been completely obvious and hackneyed becomes disarmingly complex as Ai's struggles with these feelings lead her to a climax that would have made for a much braver OVA ending.



Also worth noting are Osawa's rendition of Moteuchi (often confused for "Motenai" IE - "dateless"), which is wide-eyed and amiable enough, and Hiromi Hamagichi's Moemi, the object of his initial affections. Both of whom function as something of a mirror for young people in a time period often hampered by image expectations. As such, they work quite well. Especially Osawa, who's Yota is a young man on the verge of finding his own defined place in the world, perhaps in need of that vital last push.


Yota's best friend, the Takashi (Naoki Hosaka) character remains the at times unreliable foil for Yota's wish to make Moemi's wish come true. An infinitely more popular guy, and something of a "school idol" type, Takashi comes off as something of a half-hearted womanizer with just enough hope for his friend to come out of a self-imposed shell of shyness with girls. In fact, this time around it is he who is running away from his true feelings, which in effect throws everyone else's choices into disarray. Kaneda decides to give a character that at times seemed far too aloof in the original comic, a little more of a soul. A choice that in many ways clears up even a few issues I initially had with the manga.


While VGA contains many of the elements of what could be considered an atypical "magical girlfriend" story, what always made it stand out, aside from the exquisite artwork, was in how it at times painfully captures the spirit of the latter economic Bubble period of Japan. And this extends well beyond the obvious trappings, fashions, and music. Moteuchi is something of a prototypical late Showa product in that he finds himself largely incapable of making decisions outside of what media tells him. The film makes decent work of emphasizing this consumer-centric lifestyle by making it clear that Ai is something of an alien entity, but moreso because she is far more spontaneous & unassuming than Yota is normally comfortable with. With Moemi, who more represents another person clearly set within a locked cultural mindset regarding who she feels she must date. Both seem programmed to look at love and relationships without actually fully comprehending what it means. True to not only mores of the era, but of being young in general. The film maintains a great deal of this with surprising sensitivity, and economy for a manga adaptation. (something that rarely if ever happens)



It is perhaps within the wholly original to the film third act that it in many ways finds new ways with which to tinker with the original story, to mostly satisfying results. Entirely free from having to merely play the fantasy-ending card, it instead opts for taking Yota into perhaps more realistic territory. It's in this grounded mindset that the whole feels so much more free to explore theme rather than merely play matters out for pure escapism. The romantic fireworks are clearly there, but it is unexpectedly understated, and more exemplified within the performances of the core leads. It's a wildly rare thing indeed to see a manga come to life, far more ready to play it straight. And for this, it wins massive points.



Finding ways through the clouds of expectation & discovering the value of selflessness continues to be the electric current flowing throughout the fabric of Video Girl Ai, and it does so in a near effortless fashion. While in no manner a perfect piece of work, it is a truly sweet love letter to self-liberation in an era of plastic dreams.

Live Action Manga Blues: Starting On A Twisty Note [UZUMAKI]

Live Action Manga Blues is a look at ten years of manga/anime adaptations, and a look into the promise, and pain of bringing the drawn to life. (This post:A revised, extended version of a shorter originally featured in The Cortex.)

Made during the latter throes of the ever pilfered J-Horror boom of the late 90s, Higuchinsky's live-action version of horror mangaka, Junji Ito's Lovecraftian tale of surreal, unfathomable horror is one of the more notable titles from this time period. For me, it stands right up there with not only horror hits like Nakata's Ringu & Shimizu's Ju-On, but also over-the-top blockbusters such as Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale. For me, Uzumaki is even has enough cult clout to earn a special place in my heart as something closer to pure cinema. Films that are so unrelentingly fun, and creative, that they defy the audiences suspension of disbelief, and dare us to join in its madness. These are films that turn up in my player as a gathering or party's beginning to wind down, which usually ends with many folks bunching up around the set, curious and unable to turn away. (for the curious, others in this series include: Brain Dead, Evil Dead 2, Meet The Feebles among others)


As much as I would love to explain the film's storyline, I'm compelled to hedge around it this time, and just say that I envy those who do go in blind. To even describe this film would be to spoil the fun for many of those who've yet to experience it.

My first exposure to this film was through some friends whom were still a part of the older school set with armies of VHS in hand, and my unsuspecting brain their guinea pig. And once this landed in my domicile, it was an instant hit, eventually making me a devoted fan of Ito's inimitably realistic character & environmental designs, as well as his deliriously frightening ideas. To properly describe Ito's style of horror is to invoke not only decades of manga history( for the truly adventurous, I still truly recommend the works of Kazuo Umezzu), but various sources including the aforementioned H.P. Lovecraft and even early David Cronenberg material largely dealing with uncontrolled flesh, and our collective inability to come to terms with it. But unlike those and their use of metaphoric justification for the horror on display, Ito's stories almost exist on a bizarre nightmare plane where human rationale has no dominion, and we are left helpless to the nature of madness(or at the very least, to the mercy of the storyteller).

So how do I satisfy the curious? Brass tacks, I guess.

In a isolated village, young Kirie's life becomes a maelstrom of deep horror when not only certain members of her family begin displaying bizarre behavior, but her entire community is plagued by....spirals. Sounds benignly dopey enough, until you realize just how far you can take this simple idea, and Ito's chops are amazing in this capacity as events escalate into some of the most brain-bendingly bizarre images in all the J-horror canon. Higuchinsky's inventive use of the camera, surreal color palettes, and cartoony touches only multiply the weirdness factor, and what you eventually have is a wild ride borne out of Tim Burton's worst nightmare.The film's look is incredible despite it's reported budget of a million.

In fact, the closest film I can compare Uzumaki to is Obayashi's 1977 manic ode to childhood imagination & terror, HAUSU. Another film short on story and character(including the acting, which is by all means atrocious in places), yet rich in technique and boundless energy. The main contrast here, perhaps is that while HAUSU escalates in how crazy matters get, Uzumaki does begin to wear out its welcome by the last act. And a truly eerie finale isn't enough to make one forget just how cool the original manga became near its conclusion.

In the years since Uzumaki was released upon the world, I was naturally in baited breath for whatever Higuchinsky would crank out next, however his follow ups have only lived up to part of the promise that this film offered (Long Dream and Tokyo Eleven 10+01 were pretty lacking). Upon looking harder for anything else he had done, it turns out a lot of his output is largely in the J-pop world where he has directed many a music video(figures), as well as numerous concert videos for several major acts (including Go!Go!7188) This is a deep shame, as his quirky style was perfectly in sync with Ito's quirk-riddled style.

So in a way, 2000 was an interesting place for anime/manga adaptations to start appearing in the world consciousness. And for a short time, it felt like J-Cinema had a foothold in what could be a new hope for this type of filmmaking. More interesting titles would come in light of this one. But could it raise the bar for more than merely fans of the original work?

-Tune in Next Time, when we take to the halls of school once more, and talk gang wars, and a prince of J-cinema past.