Hidemi
Harada’s childhood years in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood were pleasant while
they lasted. The shops close early, but there are still enough fine sushi restaurants
that a chef like his father can easily find a job, even though he has been dead
since Harada was twelve. The middle-aged scriptwriter will enjoy a haunted
summer, but the nature of the supernatural powers afoot is the big question in
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s The Discarnates,
which screens during the Japan Society’s Obayashi retrospective.
Harada
is feeling a little alienated from people. He lives in one of two residential
apartments in what is otherwise a commercial office building. He has just
divorced his wife, only to learn his longtime producer and friend Ichiro Mamiya
intends to go beyond torch-bearing and ask his ex out. Rather confused by the
supposed betrayal, Harada subsequently rejects the champagne-fueled late night advances
of his sole neighbor Kei Fujino.
Frankly,
Harada is at risk of becoming of full blown misanthrope, albeit one who can
write treacly sentimental television melodramas, until he impulsively returns
to his old Asakusa neighbor. There he mysteriously encounters his father, looking
just as he did when Harada last saw him. Naturally, the good natured Hidekichi
invites Harada home, where his mother Fusako starts fixing him food. Harada
cannot explain it, but he is not inclined to question the opportunity to feel
like he is part of a family again. He also commences a relationship with
Fujino, despite her hang-ups. Most notably, she refuses to let Harada see her
naked chest, due to extensive scars. Frankly, Harada is emotionally happier and
healthier than he can remember, but something seems to be depleting him
physically.
Discarnates is the sort of
film that makes you wonder why it is not more widely renowned. It is usually
categorized as a horror film, but it really has a vibe similar to the more
poignant Twilight Zone episodes, like
A Stop at Willoughby and Kick the Can, which is high praise
indeed. However, Obayashi still creates an ominous vibe of foreboding. Harada’s
hugely atmospheric office/apartment building is particularly effective at setting
the unsettling mood.
Tsurutarō
Kataoka and Kumiko Akiyoshi are wonderfully warm and engaging as Harada’s
parents, while Yûko Natori is powerfully seductive as Fujino. Harada is an
awkward, mopey cold fish, but Morio Kazama somehow manages to convey a sense
that he has more going on inside than meets the eye. His stiff persona also
plays with and against the more outgoing Kataoka and Akiyoshi quite well.
