I have a particular fascination for the Far East, in particular horror movies and novels – check out Out by Natsuo Kiri for a really good read, or the original Ring novel by Koji Suzuki –
as they tend to focus on the darker aspects of human personalities, as well as portraying their stories with a slightly odd slant, whether that be physically with the camera work and visuals, or in the written word itself.
So this news story from Reuters through Yahoo caught my eye when there was mention of a particularly interesting Japanese movie from an original novel, which may well be seen at your local arthouse cinema.
The residents of a Tokyo apartment block act as confusing signposts in “The Motive,” a labyrinthine whodunit which overwhelms with its accumulation of detail and 100-plus characters.
With over a hundred characters in this two hour movie it sounds like a feat to sit through. The movie keeps the original chapter structure of the novel and reaches into the teens for chapter numbers, however the maintaining of the chapter structure is said to help the movie rather than hinder it. The short review provided by Yahoo does suggest an interesting style, as well as its flaws:
Multitude of witnesses speak direct to camera, TV reportage style, with an off-handedness that’s sometimes like poorly edited footage from a Christopher Guest movie. Unwieldy story, based on their aggregate recollections, is kept comprehensible by veteran director Nobuhiko Obayashi, but a less-slavish adaptation of the novel would have been more desirable. Combo of 16mm, HiDef and DV lensing, transferred to 35mm, adds to the narrative’s otherworldly feel. Perfs by a Who’s Who of Japanese character thesps are solid, within the limits of the affected acting style required. Jazzy soundtrack often feels incongruous but is easy on the ear
I’m going to track down some more about this movie and novel, and see if it is worth a visit. From the sounds of the style alone it definitely is. I would recommend, for those weary of Hollywood cinema, a visit to the Far East library of film, especially to catch all the originals of the Hollywood remakes on the way, see a previous post on some remake news.
Also, pick out Spanish cinema too, Abre Los Ojos (original Vanilla Sky) and Tesis both being some good examples.
