MOVIE REVIEW . Ashura

by Chris   ⋅   July 15, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Based on a play “Ashura-jô no hitomi,” and directed by Yojiro Takita of Onmyoji fame, Ashura (aka: Blood Gets in Your Eyes) is a surprisingly intelligent tale of star crossed love and demon apocalypse, harkenening back to cinematic greats such as Kwaidan. Rie Miyazawa plays Tsubaki, a young woman in 19th century Edo, Japan with no recollection of anything outside the past five years. The unwitting human key to the demon world, Tsubaki is plagued by a strange sense of uncontrollable destiny, which in turn is heightend by the strange burning flower mark on her shoulder. Somegoro Ichikawa plays Wakuraba Izumo, a former demon-slayer with a flair for the dramatic. The two meet following a series of events involving Tsubaki’s brushes with another demon slayer, the power mad Jaku. Izumo, out of a mix of infatuation and duty, becomes her protector, only to find that the love they nurture may in fact signal their, and the human world’s undoing.

The film’s stage origins are evident, as the narrative relies less of flashy fights and pop idolatry than solid, witty dialogue and star chemistry. Everyone, from the evil egotist Jaku (Atsuro Watabe) and “lecherous” demon nun Bizan (Kanako Higuchi) to the ever-winking Izumo and otherworldly Tsubaki, disappears into their roles, ensuring as much audience involvement in the story as possible. An example of this can be found in one wonderful sequence involving a kabuki play practice, where Izumo’s performance on stage is interrupted by Tsubaki’s very real life drama; his showy staged swordplay moves abandoned in favor of deadly directness, as life or death conflict sets in. It’s a wonderful dichotomy that would be all but absent from modern American films.

The narrative takes place in only a handful of locations, allowing production to focus a considerable effort on the amazingly elaborate sets. These things are exemplary, adhering to construction and design sensibilities (ie: painted backdrops, found items) rarely seen since the big budget Japanese period films of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Similarly, the visual style of Ashura is amazingly clean, further lending itself to a stage look and feel. There are no filters, only use of colored lights for night scenes and sunsets, and mild cg and blacklight effects for battles and demon blood, respectively. The camera work is quite skilled, and far from static, as evidenced by amazing motion crane shot, twisting and rotating while following Izumo through a battle in an MC Escher approved staircase room.

Ashura may not be for everyone, and is not without its flaws, but is definitely a welcome change from the “attention optional” films I’ve been viewing these past few weeks. Smart, thrilling, beautiful, and moving, it’s what more films should strive to be.

About the Author

Chris Nelson is a Java Developer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley. He has been a film fan since age six.

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