As TS Eliot once said, “When forced to work
within a strict framework the imagination is
taxed to its utmost – and will produce its
richest ideas. Given total freedom the work
is likely to sprawl.” ARAGAMI is a lesson in
how limitations can be a blessing. The story
of how those limitations came to be placed
on director Ryuhei Kitamura began with a drunken
challenge at the Berlin Film Festival. Kitamura
and another director agreed to a cinematic
duel in which each would produce a film that
would take place in a single room, with only
three actors, on a shoestring budget. The result
is a film that's convinced me that all big-name
directors in this country should be subject
to a mandatory film duel at least once a decade.
I'll admit I've found Kitamura's sensory onslaught
to be a bit much at times, so seeing him work
within such strict boundaries is quite a treat
for me. The story is simple, as it should be.
Two wounded samurai wind up at the doorstep
of an aragami (defined here as a “fierce deity”).
For the aragami to be released from the curse
of immortality, he must be defeated in battle,
so he saves one of the samurai with the hopes
of setting up a duel.
Like all of my favorite Japanese films, ARAGAMI
doesn't erupt into fight scenes until the end.
And it doesn't disappoint. Funny how a fight
involving immortals ends up being one of the
more realistic scenes I've seen all year. Kitamura
does better when his hyperkinetic imagination
is restricted by budget and cast members. Instead
of overloading us with boggling enemy numbers,
digital effects, and geysers of blood, we get
some incredibly innovative uses of light and
darkness, aerial views, and great editing.
Of course, a film with only three actors and
only one fight scene is going to involve a
lot of talking. Here, Kitamura's actors do
a great job with timing and uncomfortable silences.
They also pull off some subtle humor quite
well, and Takao Osawa has one of my favorite
on-screen laughing fits.
Kitamura, who co-wrote the story and screenplay,
uses all this externally imposed quiet time
to ruminate on some interesting themes: the
pleasures of being mortal, the deception of
appearances, the acceptability of suicide,
and the benefits of eating liver.
ARAGAMI is a sheer pleasure. Its back-to-basics
approach proves that all the money in the world
can't make up for imagination and good ideas. Sometimes – actually,
most of the time – you have to be placed in
a box before you can think outside of one.
Want to know about other Kitamura films?
Click to see a review of Kitamura's VERSUS.
Click to see a review of Kitamura's AZUMI.
