Saimin

The Japanese horror movie 'Ringu' aka 'The Ring' has received a lot of attention recently. Unwarranted in my opinion. On the other hand I have heard very little about 'Hypnosis', and it is a much more effective and entertaining movie.

Three apparently unrelated suicides occur on the same day in Tokyo. They are all bizarre and baffling. Sakurai , a middle aged hard boiled cop, investigates one of the deaths, and after hearing that all three suicides were heard to mention a "green monkey" before they died, he decides to investigate. With the help of Toshiya, a young and idealistic psychologist, the clues begin to point towards hypnotism of some kind. More strange suicides strengthen their theory, and their involvement with Jissoji, a manipulative TV hypnotist, and one of his subjects, the beautiful but troubled Yuka, deepens the mystery.

An excellent thriller with an original approach, some gruesome deaths, and an unexpected twist. If only Hollywood made movies as good as this! Highly recommended.

I caught this on the off chance there'd be a connection with the television series, Saimin, whose final three episodes I'd happened to see. Aside from hypnotism, though, there's no discernible connection. Even on evidence just of those three episodes, the series may well have been superior, yet the film's a guilty-pleasure B-grade page-turner for about an hour before it implodes trying too hard to resolve things. Ringu one through three, Tomie, and now Saimin make three nearly interchangeable, if only in appearance, white-clad, bushy haired, big-eyed monster women. Could there be some myth here I'm not in on? (I'm tempted to include ...Jailhouse 41's Matsu, as well, even though there's no supernatural, she's victim, and her film's feminist in the end.) The Saimin film does provide some arresting images, usually with its hypnosis-inspired self-mutilations. In the single most shattering of these, really a throwaway that you could cut and do nothing to the plot, a brightly daylit man mistakes a gas stove burner for a basin and, calmly, washes his face in its flame.

SAIMIN

(USA: The Hypnotist /UK: Hypnosis)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo SR

Following a series of bizarre and apparently unrelated 'suicides', an experienced Tokyo detective (Ken Utsui) enlists the help of a young psychoanalyst (Goro Inagaki) who believes the victims were acting on a post-hypnotic suggestion. But their subsequent investigations reveal an even darker force at work, linked to a young girl (Miho Kanno) whose life has been blighted by sadistic abuse...

Based on a novel by Keisuke Matsuoka, this densely-plotted mystery takes inspiration from a variety of sources (Italian gialli, traditional Japanese ghost stories, etc.), though some of the images in the climactic showdown reveal a more immediate influence: The recent commercial success of Hideo Nakata's RING (1998). For all its ambition, however, SAIMIN is a routine potboiler which stumbles badly after a powerhouse opening (the 'suicides' are particularly impressive, despite some feeble CGI effects), though director Masayuki Ochiai - who co-wrote the script with Yasushi Fukuda - rallies proceedings for an extended finale in which the narrative's startling secrets are finally revealed. Ochiai is best known for his film adaptation of novel-turned-video-game PARASITE EVE (1997) - which also starred leading man Inagaki (a member of Japanese pop group SMAP) - and while SAIMIN echoes that movie's strong visual sense, it falls short as drama, and most of the characters are mere ciphers, undermining the storyline's emotional pay-off. Which is a shame, because the final half hour is galvanized by a series of dynamic set-pieces - most notably, a concert hall sequence in which Dvorak's 'New World' symphony is transformed into an instrument of murder! - and Ochiai is well-served by an excellent production team. However, those lured by the promise of gory carnage may be disappointed - the film is long on atmospherics and short on splatter.

Performances are varied, due to the script's limitations, but Kanno (TOMIE) is outstanding as a young woman suffering from multiple personality disorder - which, the subtitles on the print under review assures us, isn't recognized as a viable medical condition in Japan! - who falls prey to a sleazy TV hypnotist (Takeshi Masu), a prime suspect in the murders. Inagaki is bland in a one-dimensional role, and he's constantly upstaged by Utsui, a veteran performer whose career stretches back to the "Sûpâ Jaiantsu" series of the 1950's.

(Japanese dialogue)

Maybe I'm alone among people from the West who saw this film just because Inakagi Goro was in it ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of Japanese horror fans who didn't see it for precisely that reason.

This may well be a scary film if you don't know who the star is. But while I was watching it, I spent most of my time either laughing at Goro-chan (who plays the young man in this film) for being even worse at acting than he is at singing (no offense, Goro), or just plain ogling at him. When there's someone that famous in a film it doesn't half take the fear out of it. (At least, that's what I'm hoping by going to see Chakushin Ari this weekend.)

(For those of you who don't know who Inakagi Goro is, he's the quiet odd one out of Smap. His main talent is standing looking sexy in the corner while the other members of Smap do silly things.)

I do recommend this movie, because the last ten or twenty minutes or so are so damn funny. I don't think this is going to spoil the movie but just in case you might not want to read it ....

It's pure genius the way she sets fire to his apartment in order to set the fire alarm off! That's just great!

Despite an involving opening and an intriguing premise, the film was undermined by choppy editing which left me wondering at times what the heck was going and on and which of the many characters was I watching. Despite getting scarier as it proceeded, the final revelation left me with more questions than answers. Perhaps I need to view it again -- but not today or tomorrow!