INJU (Mongrel, 2008) D: Barbet Schroeder, w/ Benoît Magimel, Lika Minamoto. Rating: NNN DVD package: n/a Rating: NNN
In Japan, a French academic and thriller writer (Benoît Magimel) obsessed with reclusive, possibly insane author Shindei Oe (Kazuki Tsujimoto) gets involved with a geisha (Lika Minamoto) who may be Oe’s next victim.
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In some ways, Inju, with its confusion of fact and fiction, an unseen foe, dream sequences, underpopulated world and chilly, formal compositions, recalls Dario Argento’s Tenebre. But Barbet Schroeder doesn’t go in for Argento’s flashy camera work or gruesome set pieces. He prefers a quiet atmosphere of psychological unease that reaches its peak in the subtly jarring performance he gets from Minamoto.
There are no extras to tell you about Edogawa Rampo, author of the source novel and the father of Japanese mystery fiction. Inju and some of his other books are around in translation, and a movie, The Mystery Of Rampo, mixes dramatized fiction and biography. Check them out.
EXTRAS Widescreen. French audio. French, English subtitles.
