A Snake of June

For serious film acolytes only, or others who like to have their brains twisted into a heap. Don't be tempted by the flagrant advertising of kinky erotica and gratuitous violence unless you are prepared to endure a plot that would have Kubrick and Lynch scrabbling for a storyline that makes sense, images that make your nerves cringe like knifeblades squealing on glass, and an evocation of politically incorrect emotions that would allow a psychiatrist to put you in the same wing as Jack the Ripper.

From the man who brought you Tetsuo <cue references that put your cult film fan status under the blue light detector>, which was the story about a man who becomes part-metal and unleashes his transformation in a grotesque, unambiguously sexually symbolic, and very violent way, comes this latest release by someone many will hate to admit is a director of very considerable talent. Making you wonder what is acceptable in art for art's sake, Director Shinya Tsukamoto has no shortage of material to help you push the limits, and he takes lead roles in his own films as well as those of others. Recently he starred in Ichi the Killer, a film that divided critics with it's apparently 'pointless' violence - but the artistry was in making the film as an exact copy of a 'manga' cartoon, right down to the extensively faithful bloodletting and chopped up body parts. OK, you get the picture of the sort of weird world Tsukamoto works with . ..

So what about Snake of June? Firstly the 'story' (I won't tell you enough to spoil it, but skip this para if you like to be shocked without much prior warning haha). Rinko, a woman who works as a bored and frustrated telephone cousellor - a sort of Samaritans line - is blackmailed by a former caller. She 'helped him into wanting to live' and now he is going to 'help' her to release her inhibitions and become 'the person she really is'. The blackmailer has pictures of her masturbating and in exchange for the negatives forces her to do various acts, like wearing a mini-skirt in public with no knickers, and on to various things with vibrators and buying vegetables. Her balding husband, with whom our initial sympathies lie, shows a sexist selfishness when Rinko needs an operation. Meanwhile the blackmailer, as all blackmailers do, takes things further but not perhaps in the way you might expect.

On the plus side, Snake in June, like Tetsuo, carries some of the most powerfully shot images of modern cinema. In classic blue-tinted monochrome, each frame is composed with the skill of an auteur. The haunting sets of rain-sodden alleyways, first rate acting, ingenious story chapters, and perhaps the challenging way in which our sympathies are reversed, all raise it above the level of fantasy porn. On the downside, many will find the style and storyline inaccessible or unbearable (although most males and some females may find the shockingly convincing erotic scenes worth the ordeal). You'll never forget the rain. You'll never forget the face of Rinko in orgasm. But will it be a memory you'll linger over?

I'm giving this film 8/10 because for serious film goers it perhaps offers a thought provoking example in an unusual genre, and expertly made. But it also contains much that some people will wish they had never seen, and much that will cause some people to walk out rather than endure the whole 77 minutes.

Rinko Tatsumi (Asuka Kurosawa) works as a telephone counselor at a Tokyo-area suicide hotline. We see her as pleasant but maybe somewhat unsure of herself while doing her job, and we see her at home, where she is oddly distanced from her husband, Shigehiko (Yuji Kohtari). She receives an odd package in the mail in which she discovers voyeuristic, erotic photographs of herself. Another package contains a cell phone. The photographer calls her, and she finds herself embroiled in a relationship with a stalker who threatens to kill her if she alerts anyone.

In a nutshell, this is a Brian De Palma-styled "erotic thriller", with typical Asian horror dream logic sensibilities and spurts of Terry Gilliam-inspired surrealism. As a Japanese genre film, it has a common characteristic that works well in some films but not so well in others: it begins very taut and suspenseful, but makes some odd, oblique, ambiguous turns halfway through, then ends almost by an abandonment. Here the progression is a bit iffy, and is responsible for most of the point subtractions in my rating.

Stylistically, Snake of June is more than impressive. Director Shinya Tsukamoto, the helmer behind such notorious Japanese genre films as Tetsuo (1988) and Bullet Ballet (1998), takes a cue from recent Hollywood genre films and trumps the monochromatic-leaning cinematography by just shooting in black and white and tinting the film blue during processing. June is Japan's rainy season (the title refers partially to the month), and Tsukamoto sets the film amidst almost constant, frequently torrential rain. The combined effect is very ethereal; it's melancholy but sensual at the same time, and establishes the perfect mood for the story.

Tsukamoto made a commendable move in casting three principals who are anything but conventional in terms of age and looks. Kurosawa is older than the typical "sex bomb", and even looks a bit older than she really was while shooting. Tsukamoto has her "frumped up" a bit, making her a bit dowdy. Kohtari looks almost old enough to be her father (aided by his balding crown), and Tsukamoto himself plays the middle-aged stalker (again looking even older than his actual age). The casting choices were intelligent, as it sets the film in a more believable realm, with more "everyday" people.

Of course, Kurosawa's Rinko is still quite sexy, and becomes more so as the film progresses, partially because of her behavior and partially because of a subtle physical transformation she undergoes. Tsukamoto's stalker, Iguchi (one of the possible "snakes" of the title), is quite twisted in many of the physical acts he demands of Rinko (and much more depraved in the later manipulations of Shigehiko, which approach torture), but they amount to her blossoming in her sexuality, despite the initial relationship between Rinko and Iguchi which is almost forcefully coercive.

The basic idea of the film is fairly straightforward, although Tsukamoto throws in more surreal tangents probably intended to throw viewers off somewhat (some scenes, such as the bizarre one involving a "metal penis" (another snake allusion) with which Iguchi punishes Shigehiko, are purposefully ambiguous--Tsukamoto says on the DVD extras that even he is not sure what it means). The gist is that Iguchi, who was saved from killing himself by Rinko, has realized that life must be lived to its fullest in each moment--emotionally and physically/experientially. He thanks Rinko for producing a kind of awakening to this idea, and wants to return the favor, especially since he's noticed her emotionally vacuous marriage and her unfulfilled carnal desires. Each character develops as the film progresses, coming to a further realization of the central idea, even embracing the experience of pain and impending doom (which is probably why Rinko is shown not getting the medical attention she needs).

What makes the film so controversial, aside from its somewhat twisted sex scenes (which are primarily masturbatory), is that the positive character developments are through Sadean, non-consensual, felonious actions including or bordering on rape, murder, blackmail, false imprisonment, and so on. This isn't a film for the weak of heart, or for anyone who dislikes gray morality.

Although necessary for character development, the about-face that occurs in the middle of the film when Iguchi begins to focus on Shigehiko instead of Rinko also marks a point where all of the lovely thriller tension that Tsukamoto built up in the first half is abandoned. Rinko has taken Iguchi's suggested direction willingly--we see her become increasingly more daring as she enjoys her newfound free spirit, Shigehiko quickly seems to be a willing submissive, and Iguchi begins to seem a bit more pathetic than menacing. After what has come before, the final scene is a bit of an anti-climax, at least on a "visceral" level. It's not that the second half isn't entertaining, but the tone is very different--to an extent that it almost feels like a different film at times.

Still, A Snake of June is successful overall. As with many Asian genre films, it requires that you watch not expecting a neatly wrapped up, linear plot that could function as a logical argument. Viewed in the right frame of mind, you should find much to enjoy.

Snake of June, A (2002)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A rather bizarre Japanese film from director Shinya Tsukamoto. A woman is photographed masturbating by a deranged stalker and soon he makes her go on a sexual voyage that includes humiliating herself. The stalker does this so that the woman will do what she wants instead of being "held down" by her boring husband. This is the first film I've seen from this director and while I loved his technique I can't really say I enjoyed the story being told. The first forty minutes are so are full of some nice, tense moments but when the side story with the husband came into play I really lost all interest in the story. The blue-tinted color of the film was very nice and the director does get some good performance but he simply lost me half way through.

In Tokyo, Rinko Tatsumi (Asuka Kurosawa) is a married woman that works in the County Mental Help Center helping needy people. Her husband Shigehiko (Yuji Koutari) is an old man obsessed with cleaning and they have a quite inexistent sexual life, sleeping in separate bed. Out of the blue, Rinko receives an envelope with erotic pictures she took once in the past while modeling and a cellular. She receives a phone call and the man blackmails her, promising to give the negatives to her if she follows his instructions. She is forced to wear miniskirt without panties; to buy a vibrator and use it, walking and exposing to costumers of a department store. The man delivers her photos and tells that he is Iguchi (Shinya Tsukamoto), who is dying of stomach cancer that was saved by her advice; in return he asks her to go to her doctor. Rinko realizes that she has breast cancer and needs to remove one breast. When she tells Shigehiko, he gives a cold reception to the idea. Then the blackmailer contacts Shigehiko, forcing him to follow his instructions.

"Rokugatsu no Hebi", a.k.a. "A Snake of June", is a surrealistic erotic movie that follows the style of David Lynch, with bizarre sequences and characters. This is the first work of the director Shinya Tsukamoto that I have watched and this is the type of "love or hate" cult-movie. The stylish cinematography uses blue filter in the rainy season of Tokyo, giving the mood of sadness and nightmarish atmosphere to the weird story. Asuka Kurosawa is absolutely sexy breathing eroticism in the sequences that she follows the instructions of the blackmailer. There are many metaphoric scenes without explanation, but I believe that the major idea of the story is that life is to be lived in its plenitude since we may die on the next minute of our existence. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

When I learned the A Snake of June was made by the director of Tetsuo, I almost turned it off. I'm glad I didn't because Snake is a lot more interesting and somewhat more comprehensible - but that is only relative. The story starts off reasonably straightforwardly, following phone-counsellor Rinko at work and at home with her unresponsive husband Shigehiko. For the first half it is an exciting erotic thriller, complete with blackmailer.

The introduction of cancer - a transformation of the flesh echoing the techno transformations of Tetsuo - leads into new territory. The focus shifts from Rinko to Shigehiko after one of the most erotic scenes in mainstream cinema. And then it lost me. There are some sado-masochistic similarities to Cronenberg's 'Crash' with its three-way interactions. The scenes between husband and blackmailer are increasingly surrealistic. They may be dreams or fantasies: if not some scenes are comically preposterous. But however incomprehensible the film becomes it is made so well that attention never flags. The urban setting in rainy season Japan is filmed in a blue-tinged monochrome, and the constant rain is used with great effect as a significant 'player' in the film. In hindsight, well worth watching, even though I suspect that the sub-titles do not do justice to the film's complexities.