One thing that can be said for movies made in Japan, they are never boring. Strange, unusual, but never boring. Having these films made available for home viewing and allowing overseas films to be viewed in some cases for the first time means being exposed to the differences in culture. BLIND BEAST is a perfect example.
Made in 1969, the story begins with Aki (Mako Midori), a beautiful young model who is the inspiration for a photographer and sculpture whose images are on display in a local art gallery. Stopping in one night she sees a blind patron there running his hands over the sculpture, “seeing” it with his hands.
Not long after having had a stressful week she calls her masseuse to come to her place for a massage. Unable to be there someone else takes his place. It turns out it’s the same blind man she saw in the gallery, Michio (Eiji Funakoshi). At first the massage is normal but as things progress she feels uncomfortable. As she is about to send him away, he places a rag over her mouth filled with ether and she’s knocked unconscious.
When Aki awakes she finds herself in a huge dark room. Michio has kidnapped her and explains to her from the darkness that her body is the perfect model for the sculpture he intends to create. Switching on one light at a time he allows her to see his work to date. Each wall is covered with different body parts beginning with eyes, moving to noses, breasts, legs and arms. These were the foundation of his art. She will be his masterpiece.
Aki has a different perspective. She wants nothing more than her freedom. Kept prisoner by Michio and his mother (Noriko Sengoku), a woman who has sacrificed her entire life for her son and his art, Aki plots various ways to escape. The straightforward way doesn’t work so she makes Michio believe she wants to be his inspiration. Even then she tries to escape.
As the movie progresses she gradually changes her mind. She begins to understand the artists and the art he is attempting to create, an art that stems not just from sight but from all senses. She begins to actually fall in love with Michio and it isn’t long before the sculpting falls behind while their sexual escapades increase. This experience of the senses plays into that and the two go on until exhausted only to wake and begin again. What will happen is anyone’s guess.
Made on a modest budget and not relying on a ton of nudity, explicit sex of gore scenes, the movie is actually quite beautiful in its own way. Michio’s warehouse filled with walls of various body parts is unusual and fascinating at the same time. Sequences of Michio and Aki running through the room among the various sculptures of body parts is disturbing and interesting at the same time.
While much is lost in translation when viewing a movie in a different language, the acting here is still solid enough that you can feel the emptions even when not relating to the words being said. Both Midori and Funakoshi make their characters believable even in this strange environment.
The film is one that will hold your interest until the very strange ending and in some ways is quite entertaining. Just know going in that this is not your typical movie.
Arrow Video is releasing the film in blu-ray format. The release also includes several nice extras including a brand new audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson, a newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns, “Blind Beast: Masumura the Supersensualist” a brand new visual essay by Japanese literature and visual studies scholar Seth Jacobowitz, the original Trailer, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella and for the first pressing only an illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Virginie Sélavy.
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