Aragami

I have to hand it to producer Kawai Shinya, he had a brilliant idea. It's the sort of unconventional if not outright innovative challenge that modern cinema desperately needs more of: giving filmmakers a small prompt and a tight set of conditions by which to make a full-length feature. In the case of Kitamura Ryuhei, that challenge - two actors, one setting, one week to shoot and wrap - resulted in this chanbara contribution to Kawai's "Duel Project," replete with elaborate costumes, set design, and even hair and makeup. That's certainly in keeping with what I've seen of Kitamura's other Japanese films, connoting a propensity for being Extra (see also 'Azumi,' and 'Godzilla: Final wars'), and surely extends even to the man's direction, and to choices of lighting and cinematography, and definitely to considerable post-production embellishments and use of pathetic fallacy. As the minutes tick by the indulgence only becomes more apparent, not least as dialogue alone fills a surprising amount of the length, and further includes Morino Nobuhiko's music of electronic beats and electric guitar, the editing, and the script that Kitamura penned with Takatsu Ryuichi.

All this is to say that even under the boundaries suggested by Kawai, 'Aragami' undeniably remains Kitamura's brainchild. To be honest, in this case I could have done with a build that was more direct and to the point, significantly cutting back on the excess and giving the filmmaker and his style even stricter guidelines. It's not that there aren't worthy thoughts in that surprising amount of dialogue that fills a full two-thirds of the runtime, but with all due respect, Kitamura isn't a director who can achieve success with the ostensibly ruminative drama of straight conversation. What might theoretically be more pensive, or at least more interesting, and carry more weight under the auspices of a master like Kobayashi Masaki, Inagaki Hiroshi, or Yamada Yoji, instead feels cheeky, playful, and far less than serious, more closely resembling Miike Takashi, or - dare I say it - the 'Mortal Kombat' flicks of the 90s. There's nothing wrong with that, nor with trying one's hand at something different, but as the majority of this small movie is one of dialogue and not action, or more generally something well suited to stylization, a director who almost exclusively operates in genre fare struggles to make that dialogue work.

And the simple fact of the matter is that while the notion set forth by Kawai is very clear, Kitamura's concept nevertheless withholds satisfaction of it for an awfully long time, without much to truly show for it up to that point. With all this said, the long-awaited duel to come in the last third is pretty swell, with sharp stunts and choreography, and some nice little touches throughout and even leading up to it. I don't know if the final moments at the end were necessary, but they are also well in keeping with what Kitamura has done elsewhere. I can't say that 'Aragami' isn't duly well made, with fine contributions from all all involved, cast and crew alike. I appreciate what the filmmaker wanted to do here. I'm just not convinced that he was the man for the job; either his screenplay needed to be more trim and action-oriented to suit his strengths, or another filmmaker should have undertaken direction in his stead. We get what we came for, ultimately, and I do like this title. For something light and fairly short, I'd happily give it a soft recommendation. I just also easily recognize its shortcomings, however, and given the nature of Kawai's challenge, maybe those shortcomings are all the more glaring in turn. Check it out if you like, and have fun with it, and I especially commend all those who specifically lent to the action - but don't go out of your way for it, and in saving it for a quiet day with tempered expectations, maybe that's the best way to get the most out of 'Aragami.'

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).

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.

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.