Saimin

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!

After a three unrelated suicides occurs in Japan, a middle-aged detective along with young psychiatrist starts to puzzle the case. A very 90's Japanese horror film which go into many direction, but it's ok.

When I saw this movie, which was only last night, I was bored with it. However, it wasn't until Yuka, the possessed young girl, came on screen when I suddenly got a little weary.

Then, there follows a rather horrific line of suicides, each one more gory than the previous one.

Saga, a young Japanese man, and an old detective, lonely since his wife divorced him a few years before, turn out to investigate the strange case, and holds young Yuka as a suspect.

A very bad mistake.

From there, it's just nearly two hours of hair-rising, suspenseful fear. Sometimes Yuka's behavior would change; for example, if she was feeling lost and was dangerously depressed (this poor girl was "abused all her life and never loved", one character remarked), she would suddenly stand straight, eyes wide open, and say: "I... am... a... friendly... alien... I... have... no... intention... of.. hurting... you".

To tell the truth, this scene was supposed to be tense and suspenseful. But it got a laugh from me, since I am indeed a young teenager and was more into black comedy than horror, but later it scared me.

Yuka says (or I think it was someone else) that she is "chased" by THE GREEN MONKEY (some sort of alien, I do not know. Or maybe a ghost. This is never explained at all in the movie, not even at the end).

Is this all just an act? Or is there really supernatural events happening? Who knows? What really happens is never fully explained at all in this movie, only about 10% of it is explained, equally matched with the disturbing climax.

In spite of its unpopularity and lack of profanity (actually, this movie contain no swear words -- not even the "f" word or "s" word or even Damn! That is just so cool!), I give this movie a 10/10. Bravo, well done!

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)