Aragami

Made in one set, with three principal actors, and over seven days, Aragami impresses far more than the more immature Versus. Setting himself the task of shooting an action movie in one room (itself a possible contradiction in terms) the constraints ultimately make for a much more satisfying and engrossing experience than his previous, overrated breakthrough film - which was too carelessly off the wall and derivative to impress this viewer. As a project Aragami also contrasts strongly with the much more opened out Azumi (another personal favourite), which replaced the gloomy interiors and philosophising of Aragami with something much more kinetic and light hearted.

At heart Aragami is a film about knowing who you are, and both Osawa (who has since appeared in the less concentrated Sky High) and Masaya Kato are excellent in roles which, like chamber music, leave every flaw in performance likely to be exposed. Obviously written at speed, the film's pay off could have been more enlightening (but perhaps a touch of obscurity in this sort of thing is a benefit, especially at a time when Hollywood genre efforts typically feel obliged to spell everything out), but fans won't argue too much and interpretations are easy to make. The wonder of the film is that the director was able to stage and direct two action scenes - one short, one more extended - with such gusto and convincing moves, given the tight shooting schedule and limitation of the set, while still allowing himself time for empathetic set ups during slower moments. It requires the ingenuity and confidence of a Roger Corman to bring this thing off, raising such stuff above straight-to-video fodder, and Kitamura succeeds magnificently.

Ignore those who claim the film is 'too talky', for none of the chat is wasted (there's none of the narrative indulgence seen in the recent Sky High, for instance), the actors have enough presence to carry it off, and time spent with them never palls. Over 79 minutes nothing drags, and the changing relationship between the samurai and the goblin provide constant interest. The developing duel between the two principals neatly reflects back to the friendly rivalry between Kitamura and his fellow director Tsutsumi which originally initiated the film. If you are tired of bloated Hollywood mega-buck productions and want to get back to the basics of purposeful dialogue, imaginative stageing and thought-through editing - in short, lean, popcorn pumping cinema - then this is a film you need to see.

The greatest scene you can have in any movie is the final showdown. That last moment, when all the events that have happened throughout the entire film (or films) come together in one glorious climatic battle between the hero and the villain. As a great lover of the final showdown I am disappointed that so few films actually get it right. Films like "Yojimbo", "Dark City", and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" are among those rare exceptions when the level of build-up is more than matched by the moment of confrontation.

Then there's Aragami, which is essentially one long final showdown. And what an incredible showdown it is. I loved Kitamura's previous film, Versus, for it's none stop excitement and entertainingly over-the-top violence. But Aragami is simple, two characters in a room who must and will fight to the death. This

scenario may not seem compelling, but Kitamura somehow manages to keep

the energy buried just beneath the surface of all the character's actions. I felt tense throughout the entire film. I wanted to see the two men fight. But Kitamura kept me waiting for as long as possible, until it was almost to much to take. Then, he delivered on his promise and created one of the most exciting and

thoroughly satisfying showdowns I know of. Much like when I saw Versus, I left the theater energized, unlike most American action films, which just leave me feeling exhausted and worn-out.

The director of VERSUS is back, and this time he gives us an old-school samurai sword-fighting flick. ARAGAMI was apparently made in 7 days as a challenge with a fellow director. Its minimalistic to the extreme: 3 actors, one big room as the only location, a plot structure as simple as it gets: dialogue - fight - dialogue - fight - dialogue - fight. And what fights! They're as hyper-kinetic, exciting and fun as the dialogue is bizarre & funny. ARAGAMI is 100& crowd-pleasing action. This one deserves to be a big international hit.

Yeah this movie is about the Aragami, who is immortal, and his quest for death. He tricks a warrior into becoming immortal as well, and they fight it out. 1 room, two actors, many fights. A very cool movie, maybe not quite up to par with this director's other work, but still fun to watch. The plot is surprisingly well developed, but some ideas in the fights are recycled from other films. While the movie starts out slow, it actually has a plot that you can understand, unlike many Japanese movies that deal with any type of mythology. I guess you could call the movie serious, but it has a sense of humor and is just made to be entertaining. If I had to compare it to an American movie I would say... Mortal Kombat without any stupid catch phrases or comic relief. I mean, its a barebones story as an excuse to have two sweet characters fight each other. And honestly, it was made in a week.

I saw this movie at the SF Indie Film fest which presented this & Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK back-to-back and the audience got to vote on which was the better of the 2. As has been noted, the directors of both of these films stayed up late one night drinking @ Berlin Film fest & dared each other to a duel. The terms of the duel: make a film about a duel involving 2 characters that takes place in one setting and shoot it in 7 days.

Unfortunately, TsuTsumi had back problems and was unable to attend, but Kitamura was present & introduced the film. He said Tsutsumi had called him a few months after the pact & asked him how his project was going & took him entirely off-guard as he was working on Ozumi & hadn't done anything. So he wrote Aragami very quickly & used it as a way to help prepare for Ozumi. The theme is very interesting, A samurai runs into an old temple in the mountains w/ his buddy & both are near death. One of the samurai's survives by the help of the temple's resident, who is somewhat of a mystery (is he a samurai? priest? doctor?).

Without revealing too much of the plot, the surviving samurai is led into a duel with him & it becomes clear that defeating the temple's mysterious resident is beyond his abilitites as a samurai. The plot (with the exception of the ending) was extremely good & there were some really good moments of rapport between the 2. The film's main theme of war & a warrior's duty/calling is not new, though the way it evolves in this film is quite interesting. Most notable is the way the film shows how homoerotic desire/affection underlies much hand-to-hand combat (i.e. sublimating a desire that is unspoken by attempting to kill the desired). However, this theme is not as well developed as the overall theme. As a result, the ending feels a bit like a cheap shot, a rather hurried attempt at a clever ending, than something that evolves well from the characters' sparring (both verbal & in actual action). Despite this, the ending does present an interesting take on the subject of war & those who are willing to fuel the fire. Those who really come to these films for the action sequences might be a bit disappointed, as the action sequences in this film are short & comprised of extremely quick takes, though there is an interesting sequence that uses flash images of the fighting giving it a strobe effect.

Other problems I had with the film were the setting, lighting & sound. The movie took place in a rather odd temple w/ cheesey buddha artifacts. It looked more like more like Disney Park room (if it were created in the 1980s) version of a Japanese Temple complete with dark colored lighting (heavy on red & blue). The light & sound affects in the film (rain, lightning, etc.) also gave the film an artificial feel, making it look almost like some of Fassbinder's films (i.e. Berlin Alexanderplatz), however the distancing affect it creates on the viewer, didn't really seem to add to the film's theme any. The director did state that he was more influenced by the Hollywood films of the 70s & 80s that he watched while growing up, than by martial arts films.

Most distracting, though, was the film's electronica background music, which became very repetitious & annoying at times, as it really detracted from the dialogue between the 2 characters. The heavy metal music at the end, perhaps wasn't as out of place as the electronica, given the ending, but was also pretty annoying & felt like overkill. Overall I'd give it a 7/10....with more time, attention & money this one could have been quite exceptional. But unfortunately the director has quite a lot going on (a re-issue of Versus with new scenes, Versus 2 & Godzilla) & so the rushed job that it was really did seem to affect its quality.

I did not get to stay to see who won the duel, but judging by how many people were going to the 2LDK ballot box, I think the votes mirror the imdb rating....2LDK is the winner (and that is my feeling too).