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 ypnotism has a long history of being used as a
plot device in cinema. Recently it was featured in several Asian "I
see ghosts"-type films as a cheap explanation for supernatural
occurrences. However, there aren't all that many films about hypnotism
itself, and so "Hypnosis" has a premise that is vaguely fresh,
even though it degenerates into yet another story about a creepy girl with
long dark hair. Despite this unfortunate reversion to type,
"Hypnosis" does offer enough obtuse philosophy to come off as a
kind of "Suicide
Circle"-light, and has enough inventive death scenes in the style
of "The
Omen" to keep viewers entertained.
The film opens with a burst of strange deaths across
Tokyo: a groom strangles himself at his wedding, an old man hurls himself
out of a window, and a runner keeps going even after she has broken all
the bones in her legs. The three have something in common: just before
dying, they uttered the words, "Green Monkey". Soon, a wave of
mysterious suicides is sweeping the city, leaving detective Sakurai (Ken
Utsui) with a seemingly unsolvable case on his hands.
The bizarre nature of the suicides lead Sakurai to
believe that hypnotism may be involved, and so he enlists the help of a
young psychiatrist named Saga (Goro Inagaki, who used to be in Japanese
boy band "Snap"). Their search leads them to a sleazy TV
hypnotist named Jissoji (Takeshi Masu), who appears to know more about the
deaths than he is letting on. However, it soon appears that the girl at
the heart of the mystery may be Yuka (Miho Kanno, who was heartbreaking in
Kitano's "Dolls"),
a stranger who Jissoji finds wandering the streets muttering, "Green
Monkey"...
As you can probably tell, the plot of "Hypnosis" is quite
convoluted, and there's actually a lot more to it than what I've outlined
above. I won't go into more detail, as the way that the story progresses
is one of the film's strengths, and it has a fair few twists and surprises
up its sleeve. That's not to suggest that the film makes a great deal of
sense or that the narrative is particularly coherent. As well as featuring
a number of unexplained deaths, "Hypnosis" is similar to
"Suicide Circle" in that it chooses to only partly explain its
mystery, which I guess to some viewers may be frustrating.
"Hypnosis" similarly has pretensions of
delivering a message, using hypnotism as a metaphor for the way we are
brainwashed by things in everyday life such as advertising, and how we
spend most of our lives doing what other people tell us to do. Or at least
I think this is what it's trying to say. To be honest, the film is a
little confusing as a whole, throwing a number of different ideas and
possible interpretations at the viewer. Like many Japanese horror films,
it also features an ending which is incomprehensible and which seems to be
making some obscure existential point, though again, I'm not exactly sure
what. The upside to all this is that the film is interesting, and works on
a number of levels, most surprisingly being that it is actually quite
moving.
Masayuki Ochiai ("Parasite Eve") directs with real visual flair,
especially during the death scenes. Although he doesn't manage to generate
any real atmosphere, or indeed any real scares, he keeps things moving
quickly and manages to keep the viewer wondering what will happen next. He
also manages to make the viewer actually care about the characters, which
is no small feat and which gives an extra dimension lacking in so many
other modern films. There's a lot of FX work, and though not all of it is
convincing, it helps to distract from the vagaries of the plot. Some of
the death scenes are very creative and actually quite nasty, which will
certainly please horror fans.
The acting is a mixed bag. Miho Kanno is superb, giving the viewer a great
deal of sympathy for a very odd character, and both Takeshi Masu and Ken
Utsui are convincing in their roles. Unfortunately, Goro Inagaki is pretty
terrible as the young psychiatrist and his brand of non-acting can be a
little distracting during some of the films more emotional moments. He is
wholly unbelievable in his role, having only two expressions -- concerned
and confused (usually the latter). Still, for a gimmicky horror film, I
guess we shouldn't complain too much.
Overall, "Hypnosis" is an entertaining, if somewhat confusing
film. It mixes a good amount of thrills with some decidedly abstract
Japanese philosophy and manages to come up with something which, if not a
classic, is definitely way above average and well worth watching. |
