Customer Reviews

The Mystery of Rampo

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Life is but an illusion, the dreams of night are real" wrote Hirai Taro (1894-1965), better known by his pseudonym Edogawa Rampo...a name inspired by his admiration for Edgar Allan Poe (edogaw-aram-po).

The film starts with a murder story (told in a wonderful animation sequence) of Rampo's, which is banned by the government for being "injurious to public morality"...he later reads in a newspaper of a real case identical to his story, tracks down the woman suspected of the murder, and she is the visual incarnation of how he imagined the protagonist of his story would be...and fact and fiction start to intermingle, with the fiction creating the fact. Rampo at times becomes the detective hero of his stories, in this beautiful and brilliant blend of realities.

This film was a huge success in Japan, but strangely, didn't get much attention in the U.S.
There's a myriad of symbolism in the imagery, fabulous cinematography using diverse techniques, some eroticism, a lovely soundtrack, and a gorgeous cast. It's a film I've watched many times, discovering more of its mystery with each viewing.

Rampo is a writer who has been censored by the government as his newest novel is deemed inappropriate and harmful for the moral welfare of the people. Rampo's assistant notices an article in a newspaper about an incident strikingly similar to the plot of the banned book, and he shares his knowledge with Rampo. Bewildered and curious Rampo seeks out the woman whose husband has died in the same way as in his novel, and he finds himself falling instantly in love with the woman. This leads to Rampo actively seeking out the woman and eventually expressing his affection for her. This emotional time gives Rampo strength and he begins to write again after his major setback with the government. Rampo begins to write about the woman that he has met, but soon he discovers that his writing turns into reality. In fear and curiosity Rampo continues to write with feverish obsession unknowing where it might lead him.

Mystery of Rampo is a stunningly beautiful film as it depicts its surreal story through magical cinematography. The directors creates an atmosphere full of mystery and suspense that is similar to Edgar Allan Poe's short stories as it is based on a story by Edogawa Rampo who was an avid fan of Poe. In the beginning of the film the camera pans across a library and in the process gives recognition to Poe and Rampo, which lends a certain level of mystery to the story at hand. In the end, the audience is left with an excellent, yet bizarre cinematic episode that brings the viewers to a place where night and day converge.

I own the VHS-version of this movie as well and pre-ordered the DVD. First, there is no extra/new feature (except for a short theatrical trailer and the widescreen format) in this DVD, which is not a big deal in itself; however, the DVD version of this movie has a couple of significant problems.

(1) There's a problem with the color transfer that practically ruins the role that colors play in the movie. The problem is especially pronounced in those scenes around the Marquis' mansion. Colors change so drastically and erratically from scene to scene that they no longer have any coherent meaning at all.

(2) The DVD has a new translation. On one hand, this could be a good thing for those of us who don't speak Japanese. It's good to have an alternative translation so we can triangulate the original meaning using this and the VHS version's translation. On the other hand, the new translation is very poorly done. For instance, Rampo's monologue near the beginning of the movie was artfully done (as it had to be to anchor the entire movie) in the VHS version, but in the DVD version it is incoherent and incomprehensible.

If you are crazy about this movie, you might still want to buy the DVD just for the alternative translation and the widescreen format. Don't throw away your VHS copy though. You won't want to make this DVD the copy you show to your friends, who won't be able to appreciate the movie as fully as you were able to with the VHS version.

The Mystery of Rampo is a film shot with the Asian flair for finding the grandest of visuals in simplicity. Containing a gripping story that is heartfelt, and a musical score that touches the soul, one cannot help but be pulled into the psychological struggles of the main characters. As the fiber of the work is completed through the final scenes, one is left with the same wonder found in gazing at a dew-soaked spiderweb, glistening in its own beauty. If you enjoyed the visual tecniques seen in "Ran", then this film is for you. Full of motion and gorgeous lighting, the sequences build tension in an ever-so-slight manner. I highly recommend this film!!!!

This movie moves Amadeus aside to rule supreme as the best film I have ever seen. The musical score by Akira Senju is pure magic. The visuals are stunning. The film reaches the most sacred part of your heart. It mixes dreams and reality into one unforgetable artistic experience. Sheer intellectual and spiritual delight.

Author Hirai Taro took the pen name Edogawa Rampo as an homage to Edgar Allen Poe, who inspired Hirai to become Japan's first and greatest author of weird fiction. He is as well know in his native Japan as Poe is in the United States, and his stories continue to haunt the Japanese sub-conscious in the same way as "The Tell-Tale Heart" or "The Raven."

"Mystery of Rampo" is neither an adaptation of one of Rampo's works, nor a biographical piece. Instead it is a jazz riff, a lush dream-painting, taking us on a journey inside the mind of a writer, one who happens to be Japan's master of obsessive mystery and imagination. It attempts to capture the feel of a Rampo story, the obsession, the dark sexuality and fetishism, the madness. The story drifts back and forth between the real-life Rampo and the actor who stars in his adapted films, transformed into an Avatar of Rampo's fantasy life. Mixed in is a woman, perhaps real, perhaps not, who's life is a mirror of a story that Rampo is writing. A story banned by the rising militaristic government.

The film is heavily stylistic, relying on visuals and sound to tell the story and blend the lines between dream and reality. It is more David Lynch in tone than any Japanese film I have seen previously, It is beautifully shot, and the dance between the different stories is a pleasure. The story does assume an existing familiarity with Edogawa Rampo's character and life, something which might be lost on Western audiences.

The actors are all wonderful, especially Naoto Takenaka as Edogawa Rampo. Takenaka is more familiar as the crazy dancer of the original "Shall We Dance?" and Butterfly Joe in "Ping Pong." It is nice to see him stretch his range, and take his place as one of the top Japanese actors working today.

Unfortunately, a rare opportunity was missed in the DVD version of "The Mystery of Rampo." In Japan, producer Kazuyoshi Okuyama was unhappy with director Rintaro Mayuzumi's finished version, and reshot roughly 40% of the film himself. The two versions were released simultaneously, to test who had the better vision, Rintaro or Okuyama. Okuyama's version won, easily beating the original director's version at the box office. It is the winning version that appears on this DVD. What a treat it would have been to have both versions available, so we could have the same contest!

This is one of the most subtle Japanese contemporary films you'll find. Despite being a live action drama, it starts with an impressive and densely symbolic animation sequence that quickly establishes the pace of the fantastic story of real-life writer Edogawa Rampo struggling with... well, you'd better find out yourselves.

I think anyone interested in Japanese stylists like Kurosawa, Ichikawa Kon or Mizoguchi should see Rampo. I gave this film only 4 stars because of the transfer to DVD. I saw an older VHS edition the first time, then I bought the MGM DVD, and I was surprised to find the quality of both editions is pretty much the same. Which is really a downside for a movie with the amazing score Rampo has.

Anyway, I strongly recommend this movie to anyone interested in good filmmaking.

Don't misunderstand my intention. This is a superb film. In fact, it's one of the most beautiful, haunting, and complex films ever made. I've loved it from the moment I saw it. Deep, rich, engrossing, elegant. A hell of a ride. Intellectually and cinematically, a masterpiece. So why shouldn't you buy the DVD? Because it's simply atrocious. It's truly tragic how poorly the colors are rendered. Where the film's photography is lush, rich, and vivid in color (an element which, by the way, is essential to the film), the DVD renders none of this. The DVD colors are dim and washed out. And not only is the luscious color completely lost, the sound is mediocre as well. Horrific, absolutely horrific. Where do I go to complain?

The Mystery of Rampo (Rintaro Mayuzumi and Kazuyoshi Okuyama, 1994)

Rampo Edogawa was a fine purveyor of mystery stories. (I strongly suggest checking out Rampo Noir, if you've not seen it yet, based on his work.) Okuyama and Yuhei Enoki had an idea-- not a terribly original one, but a good one nonetheless-- what if one of Edogawa's stories actually started coming true? Because Edogawa was a crime writer, you've basically got a hardboiled mystery already set up, and you get Rampo himself as the detective. What could possibly go wrong? Not a great deal, as it turns out (viz. Jarmusch's brilliant Hammett for another example of this odd subgenre); as long as your direction is competent and you get good enough actors, it's almost a guaranteed home run. And while it's not perfect, The Mystery of Rampo is at least a solid double that gets at least one runner across the plate.

We open with Edogawa (The Great Yokai War's Naoto Takenaka) at his publisher's office, being told that his most recent work has been censored by the government. Edogawa is rightly incensed at this, but through a series of coincidences, he finds out the reason-- murders exactly like those depicted in his story have actually been occurring. Edogawa figures he can solve the mystery by acting out his own story, so he asks himself the obvious question: what would Kogoro Akechi do? Akechi (The Bird People in China's Masahiro Motoki) is Edogawa's longtime hero, a smooth-operating detective who always knows just the right ting to do in any situation. Edogawa, unfortunately, is not Akechi, and he spends more time bumbling around in the dark than solving mysteries. He also finds himself drawn to Shizuko (former supermodel Michiko Hada, recently of Infection), who's the bad guy in the story. But in the real events, is she really the bad guy?

While I've come across recent Asian films that have been just as awful as their Hollywood counterparts, I still believe that in general, the output of the Asian film industry, be it in Honk Kong, Tokyo, Bollywood, or what have you, is of a higher quality than Hollywood is able to achieve these days. The Mystery of Rampo adds another arrow to that quiver; whereas a movie like this under the aegis of Hollywood would be all about the action and the mystery angle, The Mystery of Rampo proceeds at is own sedate pace, letting us get to know these characters through watching them interact rather than through cues we're already supposed to understand from having watched a thousand other movies of the same type. As long as Asia keeps that up, they'll kick our butts most of the time. This is not to say the movie is devoid of either action (which is used judiciously) or mystery (which is used in spades). A strong effort that requires a great deal of thought and attention on the part of the viewer, who will be rewarded by an evening-- or a week-- at the local coffeehouse debating the ending with compatriots. *** ½

The DVD:

I have just viewed the DVD version and here is the verdict: First the good news: ..., there is absolutely nothing wrong with the color transfer. In fact, visually, this version is nothing short of a revelation. To see the widescreen presentation one can finally fully grasp the exquisite composition present in nearly every shot. So much detail is present that for even those who think they have this film memorized there will be pleasant surprises in the wider frame. There is a little graininess in the frame in the darker scenes, but this was also present in the VHS version. Still, there is no comparison visually between the two. Hands down this is the superior item. The sound is gorgeous as it was in the VHS, but cleaner and without too much bottom

The less than good news is the new translation. I'm guessing this is a more literal translation, and as such it may have traded some of the lovely poetic license that was taken in the original for a closer rendering, yet something was lost in doing so. This is illustrated most painfully by the last line, which in its original form was profound and held the keys to unlocking this rich fantasy, now seeming mundane and far less impactful in its present reinterpretation. That being said, there are also interesting lines that pop out here and there that together with the original, perhaps shed light on the true meaning of the japanese. I am surprised that this literal approach was taken, in that for the most part it is quite clumsy and it does not aid the viewer in understanding this masterpiece better.

There are almost no extras, just the american trailer. Too bad there isn't a commentary by Okayuma.

THE FILM:

This film, which I have watched in VHS over a dozen times always leaves me breathless and ecstatic. On the surface, it is the story of one of japan's most gifted mystery writers, Edogawa Rampo, yet at the same time it serves as an in depth exploration of the creative process itself. Fraught with rich jungian symbolism,it is at last a profound examination of what Jung referred to as the Alchemical Marriage, ie the marriage of the Self. As all artists who have paid their dues know, the muse/anima/Soul must be courted. She is fickle, mysterious and ephemeral. In the end, to become a whole human being, we must merge with her in an ecstatic union of male and female, Self and Other. This mystery is at the core of this great film, which manages to have a wonderful sense of humor in the midst of such lofty themes.

One of the most intriguing and visually stunning films ever made. One can't begin to apprehend the depth of this movie with just one viewing. There are details that only begin to make themselves known after repeated showings.

Never before have I seen such an intimate portrait of the creative process. This is a singular artistic achievement to watch many times over the years. i condider it to be among the top ten films ever made.

Special mention must be made of the lush orchestral score , which reminds me a bit of Morricone at his best. It's hard to imagine that this film originally had an entirely different score before Okayuma took over direction, as it is the perfect complement to the beautiful imagery and enhances the story without overpowering it.

NOTE: I believe that Okayuma was very influenced by the film Steppenwolf, which is now out in DVD. There are too many parallels in the structures of these two films to be a mere coincidence. Both films are very psychological and deal with the internal world, within which the line between objective and subjective reality is not clearly delineated.

Both films have an animated esequence at around 15 minutes into the film. Both films end with a non linear "trip" wherein reality breaks down and the dream takes over. There are specific shots in Rampo that bear an uncanny resemblance to its predecessor:a long pan of old hardcover books in a bookcase transistions to a fountain pen scratching out a line on parchment. A golden music box plays a nostalgic tune...too many things to be coincidental. Both are of course, 'anima films'. It makes total sense that Okayuma would reference his own startlingly original film to this minor masterpiece. Together, they would make a great double bill.