Beyond Godzilla: Blue Christmas

We often hear clichés like “it’s what’s inside that counts” as a bland way to advocate tolerance. Unfortunately, the governments of the near future will pervert such sentiments to exploit fear and uncertainty. It seems those who experience close encounters with UFOs have had their blood turned blue. As a result, their loyalty and very humanity is now questioned in the highest government offices. The combination of fear and power yields harrowing results in Kihachi Okamoto’s Blue Christmas (trailer here), which screens during the Japan Society’s film series, Beyond Godzilla: Alternative Futures & Fantasies in Japanese Cinema.

This might just be the worst Christmas ever. There has been a rash of UFO sightings, but only maverick scientist Dr. Teruhiko Hyodo is sufficiently impolitic to discuss them in public. In a likely case of cause and effect, the researcher is abducted immediately following his controversial conference address. Experienced muckraker Kazuya Minami is assigned the story, but it is unclear whether the top executives at his media conglomerate really want him to find the truth-talking doctor.

Minami will have good reason to doubt the good faith of his superiors. Before he leaves to pursue leads in New York, he passes along a strange bit of gossip to his editor. Apparently, Yuko Takamatsu, the newly discovered star of an upcoming network historical epic has blue blood (and not in the colloquial English sense). Minami’s source is none other than her entertainment journalist lover. Quite suspiciously, Takamatsu is framed for drug possession and forced out of the production shortly thereafter, while Minami is on assignment.

Meanwhile, the taciturn military intelligence officer Taisuke Oki is clearly planning for something unpleasant. Currently in hurry-up-and-wait mood, he often frequents a barbershop near the base, because of his hard crush on Saeko Nishida a shy junior barber employed there. He too has strange experiences with disappearing colleagues.

Much like the way Fassbinder’s World on a Wire prefigured the themes and narrative elements of The Matrix decades earlier, the post-Watergate Blue Christmas eerily foreshadows the conspiracy mythology of The X-Files. However, Blue Christmas is even more paranoid with respects to political institutions and far more brutal in its depiction of the ultimate machinations.

Perhaps most significantly, Blue Christmas features the legendary Tatsuya Nakadai playing Minami, who might just be the classic movie journalist of all time. Sure, he is a virtuous crusader for truth, but he also understands the necessity of discretion with respects to valor. Furthering heightening the tragedy, Hiroshi Katsuno and Keiko Takeshita develop some exquisitely awkward but poignant chemistry together as Oki and Nishida, respectively.

Perhaps because screenwriter Sô Kuramoto was forced to edit his acclaimed script (originally published in a film journal), the loop doesn’t always get closed for every subplot. This is particularly true of “The Humanoids,” a Beatles like western band, whose hit song is ubiquitous throughout the film. Whether they are tools or victims of the shadowy cabal remains open to debate. However, one thing is for sure—any Tatsuya Nakadai is worth seeing—and he’s terrific in this one. Somehow, it feels both perfectly of and ahead of its time. Highly recommended for fans of UFO conspiracy theory science fiction, Blue Christmas screens this Saturday (4/8) at the Japan Society, as part of Beyond Godzilla.

Berlin & Beyond ’15: Stereo

Film noir fans know when a tough motorcycle guy never talks about the past, there is usually a good reason. In truth, Erik is a little fuzzy on that score himself. Unfortunately, his past will catch up with him good and hard in Maximilian Erlenwein’s Stereo (trailer here), which screens during the 19^th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco.

Despite his “scoundrel” tattoo, Erik seems to have made a fresh start, opening a garage in a small, but welcoming provincial town. He has charmed his single mother girlfriend Julia and her adoring daughter Linda. Her cop father Wolfgang is considerably less impressed, but Erik can handle him. The man who will call himself Henry is another story.

The hooded mystery man appears alongside Gaspar, a suspicious looking type who seems to know Erik and some dangerous gangsters they supposedly did wrong. Gaspar has some sort of plan to finish them off, but Erik sends him packing. However, Henry refuses to leave, ever. It turns out he and Gaspar were not together. In fact, nobody can see him except the increasingly alarmed Erik. Eventually, the mechanic will seek non-traditional treatment, but he cannot shake off the antagonistic presence. As the underworld power struggle roughly invades Erik’s new life, Henry will reveal their secret connection. It will not be pretty.

Stereo is sort of a big twist movie, but the 800 pound shoe drops early in the third act, driving some bizarre dramatic dilemmas for Erik. It is fiendishly cleverly constructed by Erlenwein, who pulls off some brazen narrative sleight of hand right before our eyes. Yet, he is also patient enough to set the scene and establish his cast of sinister and straight characters. Erlenwein also gets a huge assist from Ngo The Chau’s carefully framed, visually hypnotic cinematography.

As Erik, Jürgen Vogel’s bald, beading head looks suitably intense through Ngo’s lens and he masterfully sells his wild ride of character development arc. Moritz Bleibtrau is more restrained as the ominous Henry, but he seems to relish the taunting and totally pulls the rug out from under the audience down the stretch. There are plenty of minor players orbiting them (Fabian Hinrichs as a young, not as dumb as he looks doctor scores considerable points in limited screen time), but it is the oppositional chemistry between Vogel and Bleibtrau that really makes the film tick.

It is hard to understand why a genre specialist like Magnet has not scooped up Stereo for distribution yet. It oozes noir style, while Erlenwein skillfully builds the tension organically, going from slow burn to fiery combustion. Highly recommended for fans of dark psychological thrillers, Stereo screens this Thursday (1/29) at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, as part of this year’s Berlin & Beyond.