THE SHADOW SPIRIT (Japan, 2007)
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
133 minutes, digital projection, in Japanese with English subtitles
Directed by: Masato Harada
Starring: Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hiroshi Abe, Kippei Shiina, Hiroyuki
Miyasako, Rena Tanaka, Keisuke Horibe, Akira Emoto
Showtimes: FRI June 20, 12:45pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets];
TUE July 1, 1:15pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately.
Based on a sprawling novel by mystery writer Natsuhiko Kyogoku, this all-star period detective story has one foot in horror and a couple of toes in science-fiction, yet manages to work best as a thriller about a group of friends banding together to solve a mystery, not unlike a classy, adult version of a "boys' adventure" story. Under the command of journeyman director Masato Harada (INUGAMI, BOUNCE KO GALS, KAMIKAZE TAXI), some of the biggest actors in Japan reassume roles originally played in the late Akio Jissoji's SUMMER OF UBUME, a 2005 film also based on a Kyogoku novel, but involving the characters in a completely separate adventure. And no worries—you don't need to have any familiarity with it to enjoy SHADOW SPIRIT.
In 1952, not long after the end of World War II, beautiful young women are being murdered, their corpses turning up crammed into tiny boxes. When the daughter of a famous, retired actress vanishes, psychic detective Enokizu (Abe, the hypnotist from SURVIVE STYLE 5+) takes on the case. Meanwhile, reporter Sekiguchi (Shiina) and his editor (Tanaka) investigate a crooked religious cult that may be behind the disappearances; at the same time, police detective Kiba (Miyasako) follows a lead to an enormous, box-shaped building looming out of the forest. Mystery piles up on top of mystery and only Kyogokudo (Tsutsumi, the dad from the ALWAYS films) can tie the loose ends together, as he's the owner of an antiquarian bookstore by day and esoteric practitioner of the ancient magical art of Onmyodo when the going gets rough. Only after the heroes band together, storm the box-shaped building, and encounter the mad doctor Mimasaka (Emoto) will the full, hideous truth be revealed, a truth calling them all back to the dark horrors of the war and a foul cave on a remote Pacific Island.
Director Harada has made a career out of defying audience and critical expectations, and this lush mysterious epic full of careful period details and built around a sprawling mystery is his most accomplished film yet. It’s like a classic cliffhanger, following our heroes as they dash from one life-threatening situation to another, all the while bickering like the old war buddies they are. Tsutsumi holds the likable cast together with his terrific portrayal of the genius bookseller turned master of the supernatural, and his complex, Holmesian explanations of the mysterious goings-on are a highlight of Kyogoku's original books, captured perfectly here by Harada, who co-wrote the screenplay with the novelist. Harada has long been a fan and scholar of classic American cinema and the complex plot leading to a megalomaniacal villain is pure Saturday morning serial fodder. Harada’s friendship with Golden age Hollywood director, Howard Hawks, is well-documented, and THE SHADOW SPIRIT with its ensemble dialogue and collective struggle is, ironically, a perfect tribute to his friend and mentor, full of classic Hawksian tropes. It’ll give you a case of cross-cultural whiplash when you realize that a film about Japan’s WWII vets and Shinto mysticism comes across feeling like a lost movie by Howard Hawks himself.
