Danger After Dark

Not too long ago, the Movie Cricket borrowed a box set of Japanese movies. The one that I really wanted to see again was Suicide Club (Jisatsu Sākuru, 2002). That film, directed by Sion Sono, opens with one of the most memorable cinematographic scenes you will ever see: young girls come walking down the stairs onto the train platform, in their school uniforms, they step up to the edge, hold hands, and on the count of three all fifty-four jump in front of the train together, blood and body parts gusting all over. With more and more suicides happening, the police are left clueless about their connection. Are they dealing with a cult, or a fad? In that respect, the story is a murder mystery, but one larded with tropes of the horror genre: rainy nights, dark and empty office building, curtains flowing in the breeze, power failure, splatter and gore, strips of human skin. Then there’s the all-girl idol-group Dessert, who sing about e-mails and jigsaw puzzles. Gradually things get more and more weird, to the point of a psychedelic trip into delirious hallucinations and delusions of glam-glitter grandeur. “I want to die as beautifully as Joan of Arc inside a Bresson film,” some psychotic freak sings, “Lesson one: apply the shaving cream – and smile as you then slowly slice away the heart.” In all, this is an exploration of isolation in urban Tokyo, of alienation in modern society; a social commentary of the dehumanization of online interacting and pop culture mass media; and about people finding meaningful relationships in committing mass suicide.

Next up in the box comes 2LDK (2002), directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, about two roommates (played by the beautiful Eiko Koike and Maho Nonami). (The title is a classified ad abbreviation for a 2-bedroom apartment, with shared living room, dining room and kitchen.) One is a neat, reclusive country girl who only recently arrived in Tokyo; the other is a fabulous hip chick with money to burn on Gucci, Miu Miu, Chanel and Hermès. One is a well-educated lover of theater; the other is an air-head beauty pageant queen who began her acting career in porn. One plays classical piano; the other listens to heavy metal. (Guess who the Cricket was rooting for.) They find out that they are competing for the same lead role; the extrovert Lana taunts the introvert Nozomi about a man she has a crush on; but Lana is also jealous about Nozomi’s bigger breasts. In the close confinement of their apartment (the whole film is set within the titular 2LDK), their petty quarrels soon escalate from insecurities and envy to mutual murderous hatred. Thematically there are some parallels with Suicide Club, in that 2LDK also deals with isolation in urban Tokyo, but rather than turning that social seclusion inwards, this film unleashes the claustrophobic and paranoid violence outwards between the two young women. And that violent rivalry is brutally ugly. For a film shot on one set within a week with only two actresses, it is quite an achievement to keep the viewer engaged, but the performances, the dialog, and the cinematography and offering excellent, though gory, entertainment.

The last movie of the set is Moon Child (2003), directed by Takahisa Zeze, and stars J-pop idols Hideto “Hyde” Takarai and Gakuto “Gackt” Kamui (who also co-wrote the script). This film is a futuristic science-fiction martial-arts gay-glam vampire organized crime action horror thriller comedy drama. It follows the life of orphaned Sho (Gackt) and his friends through the first half century of the 21st millennium, when Japan has suffered a major economic collapse and many people have taken refuge in the multi-ethnic “Asian Special Economic Zone” of Mallepa on mainland China. The Mallepa Orphans make their living through robbery and in so doing run into conflict with the Cantonese mafia. The orphans have one advantage, their guardian Kei (Hyde) who happens to be a vampire. Gradually the group of friends falls apart, while Kei is imprisoned. In essence, then, this is a story of love and friendship, the ties that bind. Kei provides the common trope in vampire stories, that is, the loneliness that comes with immortality as friends become mere drops in the ocean, tears in the rain, that wash away in the sad agelessness of the undead. Unfortunately the movie employs those musical interludes – when the writers have to move the story forward, but can’t write a script for the scene. The film also drags on for two full hours, resorts to the cheap and cheesy ploy of cancer to bring Kei and Sho together one last time, and ends with a dual suicide at sunrise. In all, it’s not an awful movie, but it isn’t one that comes with the Cricket’s chirpiest recommendation.

You may now find a follow up of sorts: Danger After Dark II!

[A special shout out goes to Anthony and Sander!]

The Box

The premise of The Box (2009) is fairly simple, as you probably know even if you haven’t seen the film: Would you accept a million dollars knowing that by accepting it you will cause the death of somebody, anybody else? It sounds simple enough. Most of us would probably say “yes.” But think of the altruism coefficient (or rather the opposite): if too many people are unable to sacrifice their individual desires, humankind would not survive. That is the message that comes late in the movie. Few of us can see beyond the temptations dangling in front of us and cannot foresee the consequences of our actions. Profound as that sounds, it is at this point that the film unfortunately fails – offering no other resolution than the rather Stoic moral of resisting temptations. In that respect, the movie smacks of Puritan Protestantism. Nevertheless, the story is a real thriller with a dash of science fiction and a hint of horror – and it is unsurprising that the short story on which the film is based (“Button, Button” by Richard Matheson) has also been adapted for The Twilight Zone.

The Lewis family receives a box with a red button under a glass hemisphere and a note that Mr. Steward will call upon them that afternoon. Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) works for NASA, where he developed a 360-degrees camera, but is notified that his application for the astronaut training program is rejected. His wife Norma (Cameron Diaz), a private high school teacher, is informed that faculty will no longer get a tuition waiver for their children. With these setbacks fresh on their minds, Mr. Steward’s offer of a million dollars is a tantalizing temptation. They have one day to make their decision – and after much deliberation, Norma pushes the box’s button to accept the money. Steward arrives to deliver the cash and retrieve the box. He tells them it will be reprogrammed but they do not know the person who will next receive the same offer. Meanwhile, NASA employee Jeffrey Carnes has shot his wife point blank. From that moment, events take weirdly mysterious turns in their life. People show up with secret messages and nosebleeds. Steward seems to know their every move.

It is 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd is at the height of their fame, President Ford is on television, and the Viking mission is broadcasting images from Mars leading to speculations about life on Mars. Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), it transpires, was once hit by lightning while working at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Considered dead, he revived, regenerated at ten times the normal speed, his cell degeneration halted (implying he no longer ages), but his face still displays a scar the shape of the Face on Mars. He is now a vessel for “those who control the lightning” – apparently divine or extraterrestrial beings who are putting humankind to some twisted test. There are references to salvation and eternal damnation, to Sartre and 70s culture in America. There are drones moving like zombies who apparently do Steward’s bidding. With all these conspiracies, plot twists and complications abounding it is disappointing that so many threads remain dangling at the end. With a different ending, I would have said it’s a good movie, but as it is I felt we were bombarded with questions but received unfortunately few answers to anything.

Dark City

Dark City (1998) is another one of those noir postmodern dystopian futuristic science fiction films. It’s directed by Alex Proyas who also did The Crow and I, Robot. We get a stellar cast that includes William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connolly, Ian Richardson, and Rufus Sewell in the lead. We’re also treated with cinematic references to Metropolis, M, Nosferatu, The Twilight Zone, Blade Runner, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and even his short The Crimson Permanent Assurance, not to mention the Rocky Horror Show and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. There are literary references to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” to Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, and Frederik Pohl. With a set up like that, it’s hard to go wrong! The plot involves parasitical extraterrestrials maliciously manipulating human memories as well as the perpetually nocturnal urban landscape in an attempt at discovering the essential nature of the human soul in hopes of saving their own species. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, don’t watch it! Hahahaha!