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There are few movies as original as Angel Dust, especially in the realm of thrillers with hoary cliches, transparent plot turns, and questionable endings. Billed as both a Usual Suspects-style stumper and a Silence Of The Lambs-style thriller, Angel Dust sports a plot which climbs a tension ladder masterfully, pausing long enough between rungs to entertain a host of solution theories -- usually presented by lead police investigator Suma's partners -- and examinations of Suma's method of investigation. Complications abound in Suma's case, and, as with The Big Lebowski, we only know what the protagonist knows. (In other words: the whats, not so many of the whys.) As Suma's case progresses unevenly, waiting for the payoff might frustrate; the solution stays at arm's length throughout the movie, but the cinematography and editing are pristine (the waltzing cuts in Suma's reunion with ex-boyfriend/research partner/current suspect rule! RULE!), getting you through the first viewing as well as repeats. The plot thankfully holds up to scrutiny as well, though the details trickily come in clumps (hard on Suma as well as the viewer). My only beef with director Ishii is that while Suma is deftly depicted early on as an unconventional, instinctual investigator with a bizarre lifestyle, we still have to see her puffing away in no-smoking zones a la Martin Riggs. We get it -- she lives on her own planet. At any rate, Angel Dust is a must-see lesson in treatment of fringe characters, deliberate but graceful plot movement, economy of dialogue, use/absence of sound, and mind-mangling psychological tension (with little onscreen violence). Yay! Also check out March Comes In Like A Lion, Junk Food, Maboroshi, Audition.

If you've come across the VHS of Angel Dust in your local rental store, you've probably seen the promo material refer to it as "The Japanese Silence of the Lambs." It's really not, however. Yes, the two films share a basic plot: an attractive female detective/ psychologist tracks a serial killer while tapping into the talents of a manipulative mentor type to help get into the killer's mind in order to catch him. But the similarities pretty much end there. There are elements of a whodunit and we get just enough police procedural to keep us on track, but those expecting a big-star Hollywood type production like Silence of the Lambs, or a trendy, graphic thriller like Tell Me Something will probably be disappointed.

However, if you enjoy the psychological aspects of a hunt for a serial killer; think that a secluded brainwashing clinic can be a creepy setting; and appreciate mood, atmosphere, and symbolism over jump scenes and gore, then I suggest that you seek out this little-known film.

Every Monday at 6:00 PM a 20-something girl drops dead right in the middle of the crowded Tokyo subway. The killer's predictability is more than offset by his elusiveness. Meanwhile, we are introduced to our detective, Setsuko Suma. Described as an "analyst on abnormal criminal personalities," she seems to be a cross between a psychic and a empath and is driven to get into the mind of the killer in order to stop him. However, Suma is no confident and strong Clarice Starling. In fact, she is barely hanging on to her sanity, and we get the feeling that the efforts of the investigation just might tip her over the edge, if not kill her. Suma has frequent nightmares and fugue states. In these she finds herself descending into a cave (her nightmares? her memories? a trap from which there is no escape?). The symbolism is effective.

To complicate matters, her investigation leads her to a former mentor and lover (Rei Aku), a mysterious renegade psychologist who has set up a "reverse brainwashing" clinic known as a "Re-freezing Psychorium." We aren't quite sure if the mind games he draws Suma into serve the purpose of helping her in her quest, or something more diabolical. In any event he is always several steps ahead of her and she finds herself psychologically and emotionally at his mercy once he gets into her head.

Something that impressed me greatly about Angel Dust was the visual style and the director's stylistic touches. The look of the film is grainy and washed out. The Tokyo of Angel Dust is bleak and full of urban decay that hangs like an oppressive weight over everything. The color palette tends toward sepia and a pale industrial green that will have you thinking about basement cafeterias, hospital corridors, and flickering fluorescent lighting.

We are treated to some interesting visuals, and I firmly believe the sound editor must be a genius. (I can hear you saying it now--"Oh great...he's going off on the sound editing, that's like telling me the sister has a great personality"). No, no, really. It's very effective, including the use of an atonal synthesizer that really complements the production design.

In sum, well worth the effort to seek out if you are in the mood for something different from the typical Hollywood fare.

Angel Dust is engagingly stylish and has some really cool concepts even though it tends toward tedium in some places.

This film is worthwhile. Encompassing a Scientology-like brainwashing/deprogramming treadmill, some haunting urban portraiture, a really hot Scully-like criminal psychologist and details of her personal life with an androgyne husband, Angel Dust covers a lot of interesting ground, though it bogs down now and again. The cinematography is mostly gorgeous, but tends to detour into annoying visual noodling (an extended sequence of images flashing from a slide projector in particular put me off.)

A question for Japanese freak cinema enthusiasts: I know that cult actor Tomoro Toguchi does a small, subtle, slapstick cameo in Angel Dust (the guy in a uniform carrying a heavy potted plant up a flight of stairs,) but who plays the smugly pious cult leader? He's only on screen for about two seconds, but I thought I saw a very familiar face. (I saw it at a theater so I couldn't rewind, and only some of the credits were in English.)

I first thought this movie borrowed heavily in terms of cinematography from David Lynch "Lost Highway", i.e. the viewer watching the action from a TV thats recording the subject, i.e. the psychological nuttiness between male/female relationships, etc.. But i just discovered that Lost Highway was made 3 years AFTER Angel Dust, and so that makes Angel Dust that much more innovative, IMO. I agree with all the other comments below, its somewhat "muddled" but overall very intense and worth watching.

The main female detective is not that interesting compared to the doctor of the "re-brainwashing" clinic. He is the centerpiece of the movie, and his ideas are something to always think about.

Starts off feeling a little bit like a cross between Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs in terms of it being a crime/police procedural mixed with a psychological thriller, but it becomes something different and far harder to describe or compare to anything as it goes along.

It never entirely lost me, thankfully, and it was consistently interesting to see where it would go next. You get the sense wherever it's going it bound to be dark and twisted, but it's never easy to work out how it's going to shock or surprise you as a viewer next.

If there's any complaints I had, I guess I wish it had been a little tighter/shorter, but still pretty good either way.