Masked Rider: The First — Castle of Sand — in brief — movie reviews
So this past week and weekend have proved incredibly busy. I haven’t had enough time to write up a full review of anything, but in an effort at compensation, I present you with capsules for two Japanese films: the pulpy Masked Rider : The First (aka: Kamen Rider), and the 1970’s classic, Castle of Sand. In the coming weeks I hope to bring you reviews for Udon, Trick, and Riding the Metro. I also have Sion Sono’s Hair Extensions, though the Region 2 DVD has no subtitles. Therefore, I’ll probably just post a basic response to what I see. Lastly, due to my lack of time, I apologize in advance for any typos you may find within. Enjoy.
Masked Rider: The First (aka: Kamen Rider) . This update of the 1971 tokusatsu television show is silly, nonsensical, clichéd, and surprisingly fun. Seriously, I enjoyed every minute of this stupid movie. Masked Rider tells the tale of scientist, Takeshi Hongo, who is turned into a cybernetic “grasshopper” motorcyclist by a secret terrorist organization called Shocker. Being a human possessing an exceptionally true heart, Takeshi is able to overcome his cybernetic brainwashing and turns full-blown vigilante, doing everything in his power to protect the innocent (and “beautiful”) while fighting back against the Shocker organization that spawned him. The story features its fair share of martial arts battles in rubber suits, all low on budget but high on fun. The remaining non-action portions see Takeshi dealing with a guilty conscience (he does some bad things before revolting against shocker), attempting to win a cute girl’s affections (Rena Komine from Sodom the Killer), and doing battle against none other than Kamen Rider number 2. Much of this can probably be skipped over on the DVD, but those of you who’ve seen What the Bleep Do We Know? might want to stick around for the interesting thread of metaphysical pseudo-science incorporating Masaru Emoto’s research into human moods and their influence on water crystals, and good old fashioned courtship battles in an effort to explain Takeshi’s integrity and strength of character. Masked Rider: The First is not a great film by any means, but it provides decent fun for a lazy Sunday morning.
Castle of Sand . Yoshitaro Nomura’s 1975 film of Seicho Matsumoto’s immensely popular detective story tells the tale of two detectives, Imanishi (Tetsuro Tamba, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf), and Yoshimura (Kensaku Morita) , tasked with tracking down the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard. I know, you’ve probably seen your fair share of detective stories, but what makes this film different from near every other detective film you’ve seen is that it is that Castle of Sand documents the detailed investigation of a single murder of passion. There is no serial murderer to provide additional corpses and evidence trails for the story’s intrepid detectives, nor is there a crack CSI team who can finger the killer by scraping his or her DNA off a miniscule fiber carried across town by a gust of wind, a dirty pigeon, or any other such immensely plausible host. The only tools at their disposal are tried and true questioning, crime photos, and a detective’s intuition. As such, the story unfolds slowly – make that very slowly — but never once does the investigation become saddled with the slightest bit of tedium.
That said, the film is a big time investment, nearly 2 and a half hours long. And, the final expository sequence, laying out the evidence for the case against the culprit, lasts a good 50 minutes. During this, the film shifts wildly in tone, going from straightforward murder investigation to an analysis of societal prejudice, the fragility of fame, and the fleeting nature of love, family, and everything in between. Yet, even with such diametrically opposed tones, the film proves a surprisingly cohesive and intriguing whole. Tetsuro Tamba does an amazing job as Imanishi, and likewise Morita as his understudy, Morita. In the visuals department, the film features more splice edits and shaky Jess Franco zooms (sans waka-chaka guitars) than any other Japanese film of its decade. In fact, the film reminded me quite a bit of Z in its realistic cinematic depiction of serious events (However, not so much in its intensity). The majority of the investigation is silent (ie: no musical soundtrack), while the latter exposition is accompanied by one of the sappiest scores outside of silent films.
In the interest of cutting this off before it becomes a full blown review, I’ll end it here. Suffice it to say Castle of Sand (aka: Suna no utsuwa) is a great piece of classic 1970’s Japanese cinema that deserves to be seen by any serious cineaste.
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