Uwakizuma: Chijokuzeme

Hisayasu Sato was one of the most infamous of bad boy directors in the so-called Japanese new wave of the 90's. Some like Takashi Miike have become cult institutions; but Sato seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet. Still, when he WAS working he was something of a latterday Rainer Werner Fassbinder and very proloific... and as was the case with Fassbinders' films for a long time, it's really hard to track down and watch Sato's films. Which alone makes this film "An Aria on Gaze", sometimes boringly re-titled "The Bedroom" so important. If you like linear Hollywood stories, forget it, go rent some soft-core crap, this will bore you. I admit a large reason I wanted to watch this was to see real life convicted cannibal Issei Sagawa, who fled France to live a life of semi-celebrity in Japan. Sure, it may be morally questionable to watch him exploiting his notoriety, but I'm a human being and by our very nature we are curious beings. That's why we can build 'stuff' and dogs can't... but I digress. Imagine Rocco Siffredi directing a script loosely based on Last Year At Marienbad and you come close to imaging the world of Hisayasu Sato's stylised S&M collages.

This movie contains an "actor" by the name of Issei Sagawa. This man killed and raped a woman in Paris, and then ate her.THIS IS NOT A FALSE ACCUSATION! He was deemed insane in Paris and untreatable, as well as a risk to re offend. They're cheap and didn't want to pay for it, so the shipped him back Japan. Thing is his father's big in the industrial Japanese community( in other words the mafia), and got him off Scott free. Yes you read it correctly, he is a free man, walking the streets of Tokyo as you read this. For the sake of the memory of the innocent woman he killed and butchered(Renee Hartevelt), who he never showed any remorse or sadness do not ever rent this movie.

The story is centered in the Bedroom (also known as the sleeping room) but it's really on the Kyoko character who is videotaping a daily diary. I would explain further but that then gives too much away.

This is one of Hisayasu Satõ's more thoughtful films. You do need to pay attention. This is of course a Pink Eiga film so there is nudity and a few sex scenes but they are far from erotic although they often are part of the story. There is a bit of a surprise ending.

One noteworthy item of this movie is the Mr. Takano character that is played by Issei Sagawa. He was a man that murdered a woman in France, had sex with her dead body and ate much of her body. He was the inspiration for the song "Too Much Blood" by the Rolling Stones.

Kiyomi Itô who plays Kyoko is always excellent but is even better in this film. Definitely helped make the story work. Really an excellent Satõ movie worth watching.

This movie is truly intriguing and genuinely erotic. It also picks up on our worst fears about voyeurism and alienation from filmed images of ourselves. I don't want to spoil the shocking plot, so I won't mention it, but viewers should be aware that, although its not too extreme, this is an example of (albeit high level) Japanese underground film-making, and as such it contains sex scenes which are drwan out for the sake of titillation, but these are bolted to a cohesive and integral thematic framework which makes it all relevant and makes you question the erotic experience of watching such films. Thankfully, it doesn't judge or condemn you for doing so.

Having lived in Tokyo for almost two years,i can confirm my suspicions that Sato is one of the most Japanese directors working today.His films could not be made anywhere else by anyone else.His unwavering,logical dissection of a central theme (usually something to do with psychosis and obsession) spiralling towards a nihilistic, doomed (and romantic) ending is in keeping with a dark strain that's been in Japanese culture since it's inception.Xenophobic film watchers who think this is a scary mirror of modern Japanese society should however,not take it so seriously.THE BEDROOM is a very hard film to write about.It has no asides.All the usual cinematic bull**** has been lyposucked away leaving a economic, tight and intense story that goes from A to B swiftly and leaves the imprint of a film behind without actually developing fully.But it doesn't need to.It's like a song that never repeats that riff you like so much enough to fully satisfy you,so you listen again.And (if his whole back catalogue was available in English) i would immediately put on another Sato movie after this.They are as obsessive and addictive as his characters.Unredeeming,anti-social and seriously well-made.One day,some film-maker will push forward Sato as an influence and maybe people will take notice.But until then,his small fan base will watch them in darkened rooms in dark cities trying to replicate a fever dream.