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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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