| Director Shiro Toyoda's gothic
Portrait of Hell is certainly an interesting
character study about two fairly contemptible
men who find themselves at odds with one another.
Due to the dark nature of the production, the
film will certainly have its fans and detractors,
yet individuals that have no problem with this
variety of movie should more than enjoy what the
picture has to offer, in particular the unique
story and characters, while also some of the amazing
acting performances found in the movie.
The plot of the film takes place
in the Heian period of Japan, with the Fujiwara
clan at the height of their political power. Unfortunately,
the reigning Paramount Lord is all too content
with his lavish lifestyle, regardless of the suffering
of his subjects. The lord’s current blight,
though, comes in the form of a Korean artist named
Yoshihide, whose talents are renowned yet his
reputation for painting gothic work has made his
patrons weary, including the Paramount Lord who
wants him to paint the walls of the Muryojuin
Temple to appear as a paradise. Yoshihide, stating
that he has never seen paradise, refuses. Meanwhile,
the artist’s daughter, Yoshika, has been
spending the afternoon with one of her father’s
pupil’s named Hiromi, a revelation that
enrages her father due to his student’s
Japanese heritage, as Yoshihide expels his student
and locks up his daughter. Eventually, Yoshika
escapes in pursuit of Hiromi. However, her hunt
leads the girl directly to the palace of the Paramount
Lord, who instantly falls in love with her and
instead keeps the young girl at his residence.
Yoshihide becomes miserable with this news, yet
is powerless due to his daughter’s resentment
of him. The artist then brings the ruler a painting
of one of his impoverished and dying subjects.
That night, the lord has a nightmare
about the dying man, and the following day orders
Yoshihide to the capital to personally destroy
the painting. Afterwards, the capital becomes
under siege from bandits, with Hiromi among them.
However, the royal guard manages to completely
annihilate the invading brigades. Hiromi’s
death is kept from Yoshika, though, despite Yoshihide’s
attempts to immortalize the passing through his
art, for which the Paramount Lord destroys. Bothered
by the dark nature of the artist’s work,
the lord then dares him to do a portrait of Hell,
figuring he has trapped the artist as he has never
seen such a place. Yoshihide, however, accepts.
This enrages the Paramount Lord, yet he refuses
to back out, even offering up Yoshika if the artist
completes his task. This goads the man into torturing
one of his young aids along with requesting that
the lord allow him to witness the incineration
of his majesty’s carriage for “inspiration”.
Annoyed at the obvious connection between himself,
the carriage and hell, the lord arranges such
an event, but with Yoshika inside. He figures
he has finally cornered Yoshihide into admitting
defeat, but instead the man turns the tables by
insisting that the ruler wouldn’t be able
to follow through with the act. Unwilling to lose
face, though, the lord announces the order, as
the girl is burned alive with the carriage.
The story is, without a doubt,
a very dark tale. The movie’s lack of likeable
characters and the demise of those the audience
can sympathize with compound this rather bleak
feeling too. The scene where Yoshihide tortures
one of his aides for “inspiration”
will probably be too much for a number of viewers.
The story itself is kind of a mixed bag, though,
particularly because it spends a good chunk of
time trying to stress the poor state of the land
and those who inhabit it. This builds up until
the bandits raid on the Heian Capital, an event
that causes Yoshihide to spell out the connection
between the rise in these types of raids and the
poverty in the area. Unfortunately, for whatever
reason, the story completely drops this angle
and focuses solely on the two main characters
from that point. From a theatrical angle, it’s
certainly more interesting to see Yoshihide deal
with this prospect of painting hell and his digs
at his employer who has his daughter in his possession.
However, it simply seems off due to the fact that
they focused on the state of the kingdom so much
in the first half of the film only for it to never
come into the story again.
Complaints in the story inside,
the movie is very character driven, and their
development excels in some aspects and, sadly,
falters in others. On the positive side, the movie’s
principal characters are very interestingly developed
as writer Toshio Yasumi crafts two characters
that are remarkably similar in personality despite
their drastically different conditions, with the
artist living an almost impoverished life and
the Paramount Lord a life of luxury. The two men’s
unbridled racism and stubborn pride in their own
convictions manages to fuel the story and snowball
as the two men become entrenched in a personal
rivalry. This builds up until the climax when
Yoshihide is confronted with the possible death
of his daughter, or giving up his assignment to
paint Hell. In a frustrating, yet foreseeable,
progression the artist instead eggs on the Paramount
Lord by stating he simply wouldn’t have
the gall to do it. A dare that ends up costing
Yoshika her life as the Paramount Lord refuses
to lose face. The fact that both characters are
fairly unpleasant makes this a rather fascinating
study into the two. Both seem to get viler as
the film progresses, although their real departure
comes after Yoshika’s death, when Yoshihide
finally feels remorse for his mistakes while the
Paramount Lord continues to shift the blame, placing
Yoshika’s death squarely on the shoulders
of Yoshihide in order to deal with the event.
Unfortunately, the character development
falters in terms of the side characters, especially
Yoshika and Horimi, and their woefully under explored
relationship. Their romance is given sizeable
importance in the story, but due to lack of development
and screen time it seems forced from the audience’s
perspective and lacks the emotional impact it
should have had when they are denied each other.
In terms of performances, it's
no surprise that it’s here where the picture
really shines. As expected, Tatsuya
Nakadai is fantastic as Yoshihide, as he manages
not only to create yet another memorable performance
but also holds nothing back in exploring the more
veil aspects of his complex role. The scenes of
him shaking with unbridled rage as he tries to
compose himself enough to talk to the Paramount
Lord are simply something to behold and a real
testament to his craft. Oddly enough, though,
Kinnosuke Nakamura as the Paramount Lord tends
to steal the picture a number of times due to
his over the top portrayal of his character. Nakamura’s
fits of laughter in particular seem to resonate,
as he’s clearly having fun with the ruler’s
personality and it becomes infectious to the audience
watching. There isn’t all praise to be had
for Nakamura’s performance, though, as the
over the top, almost comical manner in which he
tries to act shocked and shaken while trying to
take a drink as Yoshika is incinerated seems grossly
out of place. It sadly cheapens the impact of
the scene, as does, for that matter, the pet monkey's
sound effect cue as he leaps into the flames,
which was oddly chosen to be Kamacuras' roar from
Son
of Godzilla (1967). Speaking of Yoshika,
Yoko Naito portrays the character and is packing
enough hair on her scalp for the role as to give
Sadako from Ring
(1998) a run for her money. Unfortunately, the
movie gives Naito very little to work with, while
she fails to make any kind of impression from
the minimal amount of screen time she does have.
Once again she manages to be a cute face and nothing
more, which is really tragic considering she has
already appeared in a number of excellent films
at this point, including Red
Beard (1965) and Sword
of Doom (1966).
From a more technical standpoint,
the movie is so-so. The sets, for example, tend
to be rather overt, with the matted background
being so close to the foreground as to ruin any
kind of “real world” feel it might
have had. The musical score, by composer Yasushi
Akutagawa (who is related to writer Ryunosuke
Akutagawa), is hardly apparent in the film, but
when it does stand out it tends to hark back to
the early 1940's style of scoring that was seen
in the United States. The ending result is some
rather nostalgic type themes for those who enjoyed
that period of film making, but also some very
simplistic cues that tend to blare a single instrument.
They do well to convey the hellish intentions
they are aiming for, yet it’s none too pleasant
to hear all the same. The exception to all of
this is Akutagawa's outstanding main title for
the feature, which is definitely a wonderful piece
of music.
Overall, the film is outstanding
for its unique aspects and the way it plays on
the personalities of its two main characters.
Unfortunately, due to the dark nature of the movie,
there are sure to be a number of people who are
simply turned off from the film. In fact, I must
admit even I have trouble watching the overly
long torture scene in the movie in its entirety.
I will also come clean by stating that I didn’t
care for the movie much the first time I watched
it, and my appreciation only began to foster for
the production after several viewings. So this
is certainly the type of film where it’s
appropriate to say that it will fall in that “love
it or hate it” realm of viewing experiences.
On a final note related to the
review, normally I wouldn’t have gone as
far as to disclose Yoshika’s death in the
plot summary. However, it’s such an intricate
part of the film’s character arcs that it
would be hard to leave it out, while the trailers
for the movie actually opened with this very scene
as well.
|
(3.5/5)