Asian

MOVIE REVIEWS [Capsules] . Vibrator, G@ME, Rampo Jigoku

Vibrator
I do my best to see good in films these days. I think I’ve come a long way from my cranky green critic self. But Vibrator has brought out the cranky in me. It is an absolutely terrible film. Plodding, shallow, and self important, it is an absolute chore to sit through.
Lauded as “Japan’s Answer to Lost in Translation“, another tale of spoiled, ignorant losers awash in the seas of travel, Vibrator epitomizes the type of trendy VH1 Pop-existential garbage that’s so popular right now. It features a completely vacuous heroine, whose superficial loneliness (nothing even close to that explored in Babel) drives her to hit the road with a “cool” truck driver, hand picked by her at a gas station quick-e-mart. What follows is two hours of the most tedious road trip cum mental patient nonsense you’ve ever seen, only with the inclusion of tasteful blowjobs and the metaphysical pissings necessary to satisfy the sexually frustrated art house crowd. It’s like Clerks 2, only the 30-something failure in question is supposed to be tragically hip rather than the brunt of the joke. You just want to shake the lead and say “Maybe you wouldn’t feel so damn lonely if you got a bit of an education, an opinion, and a fucking job.”
Phew. It feels good to get that out. I guess I should say something positive about the production. If anything, the visual style, while a bit too western MTV for me, was somewhat interesting to look at, and…… That’s really about it. If you’re thinking about seeing Vibrator, think again. It’s two hours of your life that you won’t get back.

G@ME
This teen-targeted thriller starring Yukie Nakama (Shinobi, Love & Pop) and Naohito Fujiki (Dragon Head, Leave it to the Nurses) really boils down to an exhibition of young pretty people doing exciting things, except that these things are more promises of excitement than actual deliveries. The plot concerns a young businessman who, after being denied a major proposal for a media event by his gruff middle aged boss (eew! Middle aged!), conspires with his attractive young daughter on a false kidnapping, and subsequent ransoming of her safety. While it may seem rather straighforward, some truly nice plot twists await down the road — only to be immediately rationalized away. Yup, those unfulfilled promises of excitement I metioned.
This sort of cobbled together feel extends to the rest of the films’s production. The film features some of the strangest music choices I’ve ever been privy to, from J-Rap to 1950’s romantic mood scoring, and despite the rather wide range of tastes on display, none seem ever to fit. Furthermore, after seeing the incredibly stylistic promo trailers (complete with alternate scenes) they had for this film, the end result of rather bland static shots of pretty people amongst stunning interior design, is even more of a letdown. Yukie Nakama and Naohito Fujiki look like catalog models throughout, so their respective fanbases will find something to appreciate. Others, however, will find that while G@me will pass the time, there are far better ones to be played.

Rampo Jigoku (aka: Rampo Noir)
So we finally obtained a subtitled version of this a while back, and you know what? It’s even stranger with translation. This adaptation of four Edogawa Rampo Shorts, by as many directors, is one of the most daring, perverse, beautiful, disturbing, exciting things I’ve seen this year. Each story has a unique visual style, from Akio Jissôji’s stunning Greenaway-esque “Kagami Jigoku” (Mirror Hell), to Suguru Takeuchi’s brutal and disturbing “Kasei no unga“(Moon Crater), to Hisayasu Sato’s grimy/sexy “Imomushi” (aka: Caterpillar), to Atsushi Kaneko’s carnivalesque “Mushi“, everything is fascinating and at the same time perplexing. Being that these are shorts, I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises. Instead, I’ll just come right out and give this film a hearty recommendation to truly adventurous filmgoers. Heck, that completely awesome afro wig Tamaki Ogawa(Samurai Fiction) sports in Mushi is worth the price of admission alone. Rampo Jigoku. See it.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.