Inugami

Many may find this slow going, but it is beautifully shot, and compellingly strange. This kind of folk myth is not often seen on the screen, and hardly ever in such a low-key, erotic style. And there is nothing so terrible about the soundtrack, except perhaps to opera snobs who can't bear to hear Verdi put to use in such an out-of-context way. Not a great film, but above-average for this genre. The Japanese countryside is gorgeous, the atmospherics are evocative, and the actors, particularly the women, are all first rate. Throw in some fascinating scenes of paper making, and on the other hand, some beautifully framed sex scenes, and this is certainly much more watchable than many of its American equivalents.

A mini-festival spared me the bother of buying this, and gave the opportunity of seeing it on a large screen. "Inugami" opens with an aerial shot of a two-lane following the low winding juncture of two lushly forested mountains. It's the kind of landscape that inspires Hayao Miyazaki. At the end of the line, find a small, insular, modern-day village, on whose outskirts a not-old old-maid follows generations-old traditions making very fine paper.

Our out-of-town protagonist falls in love with the paper-maker. Small town tensions, based both in the present and in the past, simmer, boil, explode.

Not great, but worth seeing for the scenery and paper-making alone. Put's me in mind of Mitsuo Yanagimachi's 1985 "Himatsuri."

The summary could seem right hadn't I seen 12 movies this weekend at the Fantasporto film festival. And Inugami was quite frankly the most odd, slow, and incomprehensible of all. Don't ask me why, I came out like I stared at a wall for two hours. Even when I tried to make some sense of it, nothing worked. In its essence, the movie talks about a family whose women are cursed. But perhaps it's me, the story is quite difficult to follow. The people seem to wander around, I didn't understand any of it. But I respect it, afterall there are people who liked it. Anyway, luckily they won't catch me seeing this one again.

Yes, this beautifully filmed fable would have delighted Sigmund Freud. If you are really uncomfortable with the theme of incest, albeit unwitting, do not watch this movie, because it is central to the plot. As in Oedipus Rex, a grim fate hangs over and destroys the hapless characters involved. It is fascinating to watch this archetypal drama playing out in the context of a superstitious Shinto world view.

But this is not the only theme driving this complex drama. The interplay of the traditional and the modern is consistently in the forefront, and the film sees the good and the bad in both. The irreplaceable art of Japanese paper-making, which is shown in some detail, comes out of the same traditional culture that fosters destructive superstitious beliefs. Similarly, the forces of "progress" and modernity work for both good and bad purposes. A plan is afoot to cut down the beloved forest to make way for a big modern country resort, destroying what is good in the traditional culture (including the paper-making art); and yet the modern spirit of reason seems to be the only hope for freeing these villagers from the destructive superstitious beliefs that enslave them. The traditional world of Shinto is full of ghosts and deities, of beauty and horror, and it does not easily coexist with modernity. Nothing is simple here.

These are some of the themes at play in this complex fable. The film invites repeated viewings. There is much to see: it is very beautiful, and the acting is excellent. It is full of surprises, and is highly entertaining. When you watch, be careful to note the family connections of the characters. The family tree is important. Director Masato Harada has created something memorable and unique, and it cannot be easily classified in one genre or another.

This is not the sort of film to watch when your in a pop corn kind of a mood. It's Beautifully shot strange slightly disturbing film. Not quite a horror film not quite a thriller more like a dark family slightly supernatural Saga. It's Buffy meets Eastenders

Set in a sleepy village one of the Japanese Islands Inugami is the story of the Boymaina Family headed by a feckless drunken womanizing hereditary Shinto priest Takanao, Miki Takanao quiet Spinster from the start you can see there is some dark dynamic between brother an sister. there the family burdened by guilt and honor to there shine and long and dark history as guardians of Inugami "Dog gods", it's slowly killing them. As in all sleepy villages the appearance of stranger the teacher Akira is the catalyst for sinister deaths and unnatural occurrences like miki suddenly looks 20 years younger. Miki & Akira are strongly attracted to each other things go bad.

Family secrets are revealed dark and unpleasant as is the nasty superstitions of the villages. each revelation adding to the plot and twisting it. It also ask's questions about morality, honor, tradition good & evil all are twisted. There confusing too like what do the dreams mean? what does the ending mean. It does give you enough clues to work out your own explanations. Personally I love oblique endings give you a chance to exercise your imagination.

There are some great characters Tomie Bonomia miki's mother watch her closely say no more, Takanao torn by his desires & Honor you can see he loose the will to live little by little as he becomes more and more detached. And Fusa the delivery girl who looks just like Sandy from Monkey.