DO NOT READ THIS BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM!!
Tsuruta's Film Builds Well but Culminates Poorly
Since the release of "Ringu 0: Basudei" ("Ring 0: Birthday"Â), director Tsuruta Norio has been generally considered to be an atmospheric director, infusing every scene with an intangible unease without the use of monsters or other more simplistic devices. However, with the film, "Kakashi"Â ("Scarecrow"Â), he seems to depart somewhat from his usual subtlety. Some of this may be because the film is based on the Manga work of the same name by Ito Junji, whose stories are on the whole somewhat more violent than the films of Tsuruta-san, and it is conceivable that Tsuruta-san simply wanted to experiment with a new dramatic device. I must admit that since the bulk of his earlier films are unavailable I have only seen his more recent works, so my analysis may be somewhat distorted.
"Kakashi" starts with a brief description of the cultural significance of "kakashi", scarecrows, to the Japanese. The story begins with Yoshikawa Kaoru (Nonami Maho) entering the apartment of her missing brother, Tsuyoshi (Matsuoka Shunsuke), in search of clues as to his whereabouts. She finds only a letter to her brother from one of her old schoolmates, Miyamori Izumi (Shibasaki Kou) addressed from a certain Kazukata village, and sets out to find her brother. Arriving in the mysterious, secluded Kazukata, her car breaks down, stranding her. She spends two nights in the house of Izumi's parents, who tell her that Izumi is in a 'special clinic' and cannot come. Both nights Kaoru is plagued by nightmares of seeing Izumi's mother fashioning a scarecrow that looks very much like Izumi. The entire village, which is obsessed with scarecrows, is eager to get Kaoru out in time for them to perform a mysterious scarecrow ritual. But when Kaoru begins to see too much, she discovers the truth of the scarecrows in Kazukata village and with the help of Izumiâââ‰â¢s father finds her brother and learns of what has become of Izumi.
The film's first three quarters have all of the characteristics of an understated Tsuruta Norio film. Tsuruta-san creates the proper ambiance in the short first scene of Kaoru in her brother's apartment by using the traditional Japanese-style stationary camera, which not only hearkens back to Japanese films from pre-industrial times but also provides for a very isolated, almost claustrophobic feel. The exaggerated shadows and pale light also contribute to this feel and set a rather uneasy tone. The introduction to the Kazukata village set is also very well done. Kazukata is accessible only by a very long, dark tunnel marked with an old and weathered sign, contributing to the rather remote, ancient element of the plot. Kaoru's walk through the forest incorporates much overshadowing, such as that she first takes the shaded path and then changes her mind and decides to follow the sunlit path that, despite its more inviting aura, leads her into several sinister encounters. Although a very minor scene, it sticks in my mind as one of the best in the entire film when after seeing villagers erecting scarecrows around a windmill in a field, she finds an old woman tending a baby carriage on the forest path. While subdued, it incorporates Tsuruta-san's most frightening audio element, muted ambient sound, with his unnerving manner of angling the camera so that characters at first face away from the audience, forcing the camera to slowly pan around to view the face. This scene is pure Tsuruta. It is Tsuruta-san's style to have a chaotic climax emerge from the slow-moving exposition and complication sequences, but the scene in which Kaoru first encounters a living scarecrow seems both premature and overdone. Going from merely seeing creepy scarecrows all over the village to having a scarecrow run at her and attempt to strangle her seems far too major a jump. Despite the fact that Tsuruta-san is drawing from Ito's work, the scene is simply far too overstated: it is broad daylight, the scarecrow is shown in unnecessary detail, and the costume is not convincing. The climax also is not very well shot as the moonlight is unnaturally strong and carries the feel of a studio light. Although appropriate to make the scene feel unnatural, the lighting simply give the impression of artificiality. Normally, Tsurata-san sets his films' stories apart from those of his contemporaries by using a fairly easy to follow, creepy mystery that then suddenly escalates into a chaotic climax. Of course he was following the works of another writer in this story, so he is not to blame for the flaws in the plot. Nevertheless, there are many elements that are inconsistent and left unexplained. If the festival of the scarecrows is supposed to be their awakening, why is Kaoru attacked repeatedly by scarecrows before the festival even occurs? Why are some scarecrows immediately malicious while others hold back? The story also does not sufficiently answer why Izumi is evil and why she is unnaturally powerful for an evil spirit. While the story alludes that the most evil scarecrows are descended from humans who die a bad death, it does not provide enough explanation for this to be clear, or even for one to be sure that he is supposed to follow that train of thought. Even if this is merely because Tsuruta-san was following Itoâââ‰â¢s work -- which I have not read -- very closely, he compromises the components that make his films great in the process. This makes for a film that starts well but finishes very poorly. "Kakashiâââ¬Ã also has more scenes of cliched suspense than is usual for a film by Tsurata-san. What comes to mind most readily is the failure of Kaoru's car to start as she is surrounded by villagers intent on killing her. Many other scenes are simply clumsy: in the escape sequence, the Jeep appears to have been immobilized by going off the road ever so slightly. While this style of sequence is overused and uninventive to begin with, it is only worsened by the fact that Tsuruta-san could not come up with any better way to stop the Jeep than to have it drive over a little bump in the road. The acting in the film is quite good. Nonami Maho occasionally comes near digressing into the stereotyped overdone acting in low-budget horror films by becoming the 'hysterical young woman' type, but she always manages to come back from the edge by incorporating a certain degree of professional calm and reserve. Shibasaki Kou is an excellent Izumi. Her smile and mannerisms all fit into the unsettling feel of the film perfectly. None of the other acting is particularly exemplary, but still sufficient. I will say, although she is a very minor character, Yukie, Izumi's mother, plays the distressed, paranoid mother quite realistically. I also liked that Tanaka Yoji was cast as the small town police officer, especially since the next year he would play the retired police officer in Shimizu Takashi's "Juon: The Grudge"Â. Of all the horror directors in Japan today, Tsuruta Norio is one of my favorites. The understated horror, the use of the camera to hide the faces of even 'good' characters, the limited use of music all combine to make films that leave the viewer feeling unsettled and paranoid. However, in "Kakashi" his deviation from this in favor of a thrilling film comes off as confusing and unoriginal due to, above all else, seeming clumsiness. While on the whole a disquietingly atmospheric, it contains precious few scenes that exhibit Tsuruta's characteristically subtle touch.
