Sado
is like the Japanese Isle of Elba. It
was there that the Emperor Juntoku and Buddhist priest Nichiren were exiled in
eras past and it is there that a dissident punk rocker is imprisoned in the dystopian near future. Yet, the island
environment he wakes to appears frozen in time, existing in a state of
perpetual winter. Amid the gloom, demons
will haunt Welsh expat John Williams’ Noh-styled Shakespearean pseudo-adaptation,
Sado Tempest (trailer here), which screens
during the 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival.
Juntoku’s
band Jitterbug regularly yells truth to power during their gigs. This one will be their final one. The Agent Smith-like Sekihara drugs the lads
backstage and whisks them off to Sado. Presumed dead by the outside world, they
are now helpless captives of the brutal warden Sugi. There is also a strange woman named Miranda,
who obsessively hums lines of a legendary demon song as she trudges about the
place. Eventually, Juntoku suspects her
ancient verses might hold the key to a supernatural renewal.
Right,
there’s some Tempest in here
somewhere. Regardless, there is plenty
of ethereal atmosphere, evocative taiko drumming, and Kappa like demons to
transport viewers well out of the familiarity zones. Essentially, Shakespeare is one of several
influences, just like the Zen Buddhist flavoring the pronouncements of Omuro, the
Prospero figure. Williams clearly
privileges mood over narrative, but there are some deviously subversive bits,
as when the corrupt Sugi browbeats the band into recording that last album for
their label to discover in the vaults.
Fans
of Jitterbug should enjoy hearing them do their thing. Yet, even through subtitles, the centerpiece “Demon
Song” has a real old world vibe, in keeping with the film’s Shakespearean
inspiration. Lead singer Yasunori Henmi
does right by it, even if he is a somewhat stiff screen presence. While the cast largely provides deliberately
strange and forbidding performances, there is something haunting about Noriko
Eguchi’s Miranda. As the villainous
Sekihara, Kill Bill’s Yoji Tanaka is
also appropriately cold blooded and venomous.
