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 zumaki is the story of highschooler Kirie, who
opens the film with a brief voiceover introduction. We learn that Kirie lives in
a small rural Japanese town with her father (her mother has passed away), and
that young Kirie has a crush on her childhood buddy Shuichi, whose father is
starting to act very strangely. Apparently Shuichi's father, Toshio, has become
obsessed with vortexes, or anything that resembles a vortex in design. One
night, while delivering a package to Toshio, Kirie discovers that the old man
has somehow stuffed himself into the washing machine and twisted himself into
knots -- becoming, quite literally, the "vortex" pattern that he
is so obsessed with. What is going on? Is the town cursed? And why are vortexes
appearing everywhere and on everyone? And why is the slow, fat kid developing a
hump underneath his shirt?
Uzumaki is a Slow Bore Horror film.
It can be called "horror" for the simple reason that it, well,
involves the supernatural. As is the case with all Slow Bore Horror films, Uzumaki
has a young female in the leading role. A young female who has as much charisma
as the chair I'm currently sitting on -- and that, mind you, is insulting my
chair. As is the case with all Slow Bore Horror heroines, Kirie has as much
intelligence as that big mole on her chin, which is to say she has very little
intelligence. The girl is, quite simply, there for us to "walk around"
with and to give us a point of reference from which to slowly (oh God so slowly)
discover the background behind the weird happenings.
Unless you think I'm trying
to slam the actress, I assure you I'm not. I'm quite sure having a lead heroine
who does very little, show as little intelligence as possible, and yet seem to
be everywhere and anywhere without purpose, is the ideal heroine for Asian Slow
Bore Horror films.
The only really interesting thing about Uzumaki is
director Higuchinsky, who besides having a name that sounds like a bad Jewish
pen name is a heck of a talented director. Higuchinksy displays some real talent
and shows flashes of genius when it comes to the movie's visuals, and his
contributions are really the only real reason to see this movie (that is, if you
absolutely have to see this movie). A prolonged, slow-moving scene at
Shuichi's house when Kirie discovers Toshio's body, is exceptionally directed. In it,
Higuchinsky keeps the camera framed on the house and slowly moves the camera,
and gradually a face comes into view superimposed over the scene. It is genius.
Of equal interest (and even a little creepy) is the hospital scene where
a millipede laboriously travels across a hospital room and into a character's
ear. Intensely creepy! Checking up on the director's name on IMDB tells me that Uzumaki
is Higuchinsky's first movie, and he hasn't done another one since. A shame,
really, since with better material Higuchinsky might be able to really show off
his abilities.
It's really hard to gauge the acting talents of people in
Slow Bore Horror films. Why? Mostly because actors are programmed (and in truth,
they all move and talk like robots -- emotionless robots) that one isn't
sure if they know how to act at all. Uzumaki is most time-consuming and
utterly dead when lead actress Eriko Hatsune and the effeminate
Shuichi (Fhi Fan) are onscreen. The two have very little chemistry and usually
turns the movie into a bad High School play.
The rest of the cast fares better, but not by much.
Most of the background cast seems to have two modes of acting: sleepwalk through
their scenes or mug for the camera. The "mugging" crowd involves
actors speaking or smiling or grinning idiotically into the camera while
throwing out their lines. In fact, one of the movie's worst muggers was involved
in another one of movie's highlights: He got run over by a car. Yay.
After seeing about 10 of these Slow Bore Horror movies in a
row, I'm ready to go back to Jennifer Love Hewitt and her, er, generous
"acting" talents. Both of them.
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