DVD
The Duel Project
Aragami / 2LDK

Starring: Takoa Osawa, Masaya Koto, Maho Nonami and Daisuke Kizzaki
Tartan Asia Extreme
RRP: £19.99
TVD3618
Certificate: 18
Available 24 September 2007


The latest release from Tartan is a two-disc set containing very different, but ideationally connected, films. During a particularly drunk night Yukihiko Tsutsumi and Ryuhei Kitamura found themselves the only sober ones at the table (both are tee total) and began to talk. What came out of the talk was the Duel Project, an idea to make a film, in under a week, on only one set and with as few people as possible, where the main premise would be a one-on-one conflict. Here, presented for the first time are the fruits of their labours
2LDK and Aragami. It has been left up to the audience to decide who won...

2LDK (2003) was written and direct and directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi and won The Jury Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival. The title describes the apartment in which it is filmed, two bedrooms, living room, diner and kitchen.

The story concerns two aspiring actresses Lana (Maho Nonami) and Nozomi (Eiko Koike), who are not only sharing the same flat, but are also up for the same part in a fictional film, Yakuza Wives. Following their return from the audition the tension between the girls starts to mount. First there are barbed comments, which only the audience is aware of, which soon turns to verbal and then physical violence as the strain of living with someone finally drive both of them over the edge.

Lana and Nozomi are two different people who really should not be sharing a flat. Lana is a city girl with almost no regard for Lana's privacy or belongings, constantly interfering with her stuff, whilst Nozomi is a country girl who has come to a city she barely comprehends to become an actress. She is protective of her stuff even to the point of writing her name on her food and numbering her eggs. Their lack of compromise and understanding of each other, plus the tension over who will get the part finally sees the ladies explode into a level of violence which would be physically impossible.

Although the fight ends up in the land of improbable, its set up is firmly positioned in reality. God knows sharing and compromising with someone you love is hard enough, in shared digs with someone you barely get on with, is a recipe for disaster. Even at the beginning of the film we are aware that these girls are being pleasant to each other through extremely gritted teeth.

The film has much to recommend it, if nothing else you can watch it with an annoying flat mate imagining that you are holding the ice pick. The violence eventually exceeds all measure of normalcy but even in these comic book moments it remains firmly tongue in cheek, this is, after all, a black comedy.

Shot in only eight days, often with the cast and crew working flat out through the night, this must have been a gruelling shoot, with sleep deprivation kicking in after only a few days The film was shot in sequence order and the growing sense of madness is further heightened not only by the actresses lack of sleep but by the fact that during the shoot they both contracted flu.

Oddly for such a quickly made film you get the option of stereo, 5.1 or DTS, with subtitles. The extras are also impressive for such a project. You get a behind the scenes featurette (18m 14s), which for once actually tells you something useful about the feature, You get a piece on the Premier (25m 01s) which tells you how the project came about from both directors and the original trailer.

Even on its own this would be a good addition to your collection, but Tartan has gone one further and included its companion film Aragami.

Aragami (2003) was co-written and directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. The film won a Silver Raven for its director at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film.

Two Samurai's arrive, wounded, at a temple and are taken in by a seemingly benevolent host (Masaya Kato) and his servant girl (Kanae Uotani). Although one of the Samurai survives his companion dies of his wounds. His host tells him that outside the gates of the citadel a goblin roams the mountain, killing men and eating their flesh. When the survivor (Takao Osawa) questions him further he discovers that not only is his host the legendary goblin Aragami but that his own miraculous recovery is down to the fact that he was fed his companions flesh. Queue big fight.

Aragami is a much slower burner that 2LDK and takes much longer to get to the heart of the matter, the duel. That said its slow burner tension gets to you in the end and as the samurai's uncertainty and apprehension grows so does that of the audience. Both Kato and Osawa are impressive as between the actors they slowly engage in a verbal battle of wits before having to fight for real.

Kitamura makes no moral decisions here, for a start the film is too short, as he quite rightly just accepts that this is the way the characters are. Both are killers, though each has a different moral imperative for this. It's an ambitious piece given the restrictions under which it was filmed and it nearly pulls it off perfectly, what problems the film does have, the score especially, can be forgiven as the film was made in a week. Brooding and unnerving its well worth a watch.

Once again the film is presented in stereo, 5.1 and DTS with subtitles. Extras on the second disc are somewhat restricted being limited to the Duel Project Trailer.

Given the time restriction, both films acquit themselves well. It was informative that given that both directors were given the premise of a single set to enact a duel just how much story and depth both were able to squeeze into such a short space of time. Obviously this led to some faults, but little that could not be excused.

Charles Packer

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