Killing (2018): Written and
directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu
Aoi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Ryusei Maeda, and Tatsuya Nakamura. Running
Time: 80 minutes.
Rating: 3.5/4
Following a brief hiatus from his last
film, cult legend Shinya Tsukamoto returns with another compact,
unique, and challening work examing his favorite recurring theme;
violence. The human capacity to inflict physical harm on each other,
and the many avenues this opens up into the human psyche, has long
been Tsukamoto's raison d'etre, whether it be through the lens
of the futuristic, techno-apocalyptic hellscapes of the Iron Man
franchise, contemporary underground boxing in Tokyo Fist, or
the Second World War in Fires on the Plain. Here, Tsukamoto
turns his gaze even further back into the well of time, to the days
of the samurai in Edo-era Japan.
The main character is a young ronin- an
independent, unaffiliated samurai- named Mokunoshin, who has been
living for some time in a tiny farming village in the mountain. He's
grown close with one of the young boys of the village, Ichisuke, and
has been teaching him the art of the sword, while also seeming to
grow romantically close to the boy's older sister, Yu. We never
learn exactly why, but he is incredibly restless, insisting that he
will be leaving the village soon, though to what purpose and end even
he doesn't seem to know.
A reason finally arrives with another
ronin, and older man played by Tsukamoto himself. He is searching
for fighters for an unspecified "mission to Edo" (Edo was
the name of Japan's capital at the time), and asks Mokunoshin to join
him. To the clear anguish of Yu, not only does he agree, but
Ichisuke insists on going as well, eager to leave the village and
make a name for himself. The trip is almost immediately delayed,
though, as a group of brigands appear just then on the outskirts of
the village and refuse to leave, which soon leads to a major boiling
point.
By the end, the film becomes almost
feverish in its tone, functioning as a reflection on the endlessly
cyclical, self-reinforcing dynamic of violence and retribution.
Almost every instance of fighting feels random, arbitrary, and wholly
unnecessary, which was most likely the whole point. Given that we
never learn the details of what, exactly, is happening in Edo that is
so damn important, the "mission" Tsukamoto's character
keeps talking about effectively works as the film's version of the
river from Heart of Darkness, a metaphorical entryway into
pain, suffering, and depravity, without meaning or purpose.
All well and good, but I found myself
struggling to parse out the character and motivations of the main
character. Does he want to be a killer, or not? He clearly has some
sort of emotional struggle regarding being a warrior and whether or
not he really wants to go in this fateful mission or stay and live a
life of quiet contentment. Is he genuinely conflicted about this, or
an insane sociopath waiting for the right excuse to break down
completely? Here, too, the ambiguity may well be deliberate.
This is a small, compact film that
hits hard when it needs to. It is very much a work from the strange
mind of Shinya Tsukamoto, which is its own form of recommendation.
Given my own attraction to stories and legends of wars and warriors,
this film made me realize I need to be more careful of my own inner
Monokushin. As should most, I imagine.
-Noah Franc
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