Otoshiana

As the ghosts of two of the victims of the man in the white suit chase his Vespa, they yell, "You can't kill someone for no reason." Whatever that reason is, it is never shared with us. It's sad enough that the characters in this movie are so lost, but that someone would care enough about them to seek them out and kill them. The man in the white suit has a book and after carrying out his hit, or setting one up, he quietly writes things in that book. Is he the grim reaper? Does he represent organized crime? Is he a solo player? He is magical in a Satanic sense. He comes between two warring labor unions, creating enough distrust to destroy what they fight for and them also. One of the strangest characters is a little boy, the son of the first victim, who seems only intent on eating throughout the movie. At one point, he catches a frog, smashes it on the rocks, and then pulls off its skin. He seems immune to emotion and we only know that he is a little eating machine. This is a film that you will think about for a long time if you can find it. It is unsatisfying on the one hand and highly provocative on the other.

This film is very difficult to find in the West. It's not on video and you'd probably have to be lucky and find it at a film festival or a revival house. It's the first collaboration between director Teshigahara, writer Kodo Abe, and composer Toru Takemitsu, who went on to make the more widely available WOMAN IN THE DUNES and FACE OF ANOTHER. It's not quite as strong as WitD but is on par with FoA. This is a satire about a deserted town who's inhabitants are ghosts swallowed up by corruption. Teshigahara's direction is solid and Takemitsu comes up with another appropriately dissonant score balancing tension and humor. It's worth seeing for anyone interested in the three principal collaborators, particularly since opportunities to see it are rare. Takemitsu in particular could almost single handedly make a movie worth watching.

If you're familiar with Hiroshi Teshigahara's work, especially the notorious "Woman In The Dunes", you will understand the starkness, the harsh reality, the irony of this film. Ostensibly about a miner who is stalked by a man in a white suit and who then is killed for reasons that do not become apparent until nearly the end of the film, the film is, like "Dunes", an uncompromising look at life. The film is technically superb on the DVD box available, and it is highly recommended. This film is not for everyone, it is for people who are interested in serious Japanese cinema. There are nuances in this film that show the mark of a great director, though. Again, be prepared: This is not happy go lucky. It triumphs mostly because of its persistence of vision. That is an endorsement for any filmmaker.

Absolutely unique and bizarre movie in the best sense. It starts as an almost Kafakaesque eerie horror, then becomes a comic ghost story and then an almost Ken Loachian tale of labor struggle. Ultimately it's a cosmic black comedy. That's a lot of narrative tones for one film to cover, but this manages it all with grace and eloquence.

PITFALL is by far inferior to the other two collaborations of Hiroshi Teshigahara and Kobo Abe (The Face of Another/Woman in the Dunes). It was not as interesting/innovative or brilliant, it's more of a cinematic "curiosum" i would say. That doesn't mean it has no merits. I could never guess where it goes, it's overambitious, one could say it has not any identity but i love multiple-genre movies, even the ones which get a bit messy and confusing.

PITFALL starts as drama, then it becomes a drama/fantasy, then, a mystery and it ends like an existential drama. Unfortunately, it ends up less exciting as it sounds. Still it's a good movie and i disagree with the reviewers who said that zero explanations are being given. Actually, it's obvious what happened here, as long as you pay attention to all those "conflicting parties" here. Hint, it's not two but three.