The Beast to Die

Recently picked this up from Radiance and I'm glad I did. The Beast to Die is an immensely strange, gloriously violent, suspenseful, shocking and hauntingly beautiful psychological crime thriller as only the Japanese could make. Yasuka Matsuda's performance is incredible and Takeshi Kaga is nearly his equal, their characters being different but very relatable to one another. Date is a seemingly stoic but truly mad former war photographer, and Sanada is a less experienced but eager sociopath. They come together in nihilistic belief and decide to start robbing and murdering. They target random people as well as people close to them, letting go of all morality. It's bonkers and brilliant. The music is stunning, the visuals are stunning, the shot compositions are fantastic, the sound design is excellent. The concept isn't extremely original, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it, and it hooked me from start to finish.

The opening is a fight in the rain and shot at unusual angles. It appears that a detective is doing well with a younger guy seemingly in crouched or squat fighting position but usually on the floor against the wall and over the wall but then suddenly he is all over the detective and he seems to enjoy thumping him to death. It seems this war photography journalist may have been traumatised. Out of the dark our anti hero is in the light and very colourful inside, it is a casino, and he carries on fighting, takes over a gun and kills all them and picks up a large amount of money. A very strange opening and this killer is surely no normal killer or robber. We find out he is not and this gets more and more bizarre and terrible and I find that this is stunning and thrilling but so scary he had seen the horrors of his war and the ending, so awful, is almost unwatchable.

"The Beast To Die" (or "Blood of the Beast") is one of the craziest, and most perfectly executed psychological crime films ever made. This movie about a foreign war correspondent gone insane with the horrors of photographing war ravaged corpses in India and Lebanon, has to be seen to be believed. Loner Kunhiko lives in his own world, one in which he controls everything like the maestro standing in front of his own orchestra. Everything in his cave-like, yet futuristic apartment is controlled by one panel of buttons at his fingertips. He is of course obsessed with classical music, which plays a huge part in this breathtaking film. The carnage is absolutely exhausting, as human lives seem to not matter at all to this damaged soul. After terrorizing the city on his own for a while, he picks up a partner, a disgruntled waiter, angry at the world for the way life has treated him. His mind is like clay to be molded and shaped by a superior mind, just like any perfect soldier. The two of them develop a bond and together they stir up an avalanche of terror. Add in the obsessed Police detective, who tries to stop the reign of terror, single-handedly, and you have a blood pumping action film as well. So many films come to mind when watching "Yaju shisubeshi," such as "Taxi Driver" and "The French Connection." Yes, this movie is from that phenomenal decade where movies were at their darkest, and most nihilistic. "Fight Club" also comes to mind, as most viewers will see definite similarities between the two twisted "buddy movies." The relationship between the partners is very reminiscent of that of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the teen shooters who turned Columbine High School into a bloodbath; one is the brains, the other, dimwitted muscle, angry at the world and looking for a purpose to his life. Like much of Japan Cinema, the attention to detail and flawless perfection in every frame, every musical note, in every scene is always on display here. It is surprising that this evil masterpiece seems to be virtually unknown. This is a big movie, and one that will remain with most anyone who has the good fortune of seeing it.

Nothing happens even after the first half an hour. You won't be rewarded for your patience. Peeling oranges is more entertaining.