LOVE
AND PAIN
by Howard Schumann
In Moonlight Whispers (1999), the first
film by Akihiko Shiota (Don't Look Back, Harmful Insect),
a young Japanese student Hidaka Takuya (Kenji Mizuhashi) will do anything
to prove his love for Kendo partner Kitihara Satsuki (Tsugumi). This
includes licking the sweat off of her feet, listening to her having
sex with a friend, and even jumping over a waterfall. Based on a manga
(Japanese comic book) by Masahiko Kikumi, the film is not about kinky
sex, but about adolescents involved in a love so deep it completely
distorts their sense of perspective. Shiota's wry observational camera
captures a marginal but valid aspect of the adolescent experience as
profoundly as Van Sant's Elephant
captured the high school milieu that led to guns and violence.
Takuya
and Satsuki are shy students at the same high school and belong to the
Kendo club (a sport involving two single combatants who wear padded
gear, then try to beat each other with either end of a padded stick).
Satsuki is a top player and a most sought-after companion. The two friends
begin dating, backed by the soft guitar melodies of Shinsuke Honda,
and everything seems normal until she discovers that he is more interested
in sniffing her underwear, photographing articles of her clothing, and
making audio tapes of her going to the bathroom than in having sex.
When Takuya puts a twist on the meaning of "puppy love" and tells her
he wants to be like her obedient dog, she calls him a pervert and begins
spending more time with another classmate, Uematsu Tadashi (Kusano Kitahara).
With
a fast turnaround that seems a bit out of character, Satsuki soon discovers
that she finds pleasure in playing the dominating role and begins ordering
the compliant Takuya around, asking him to do more and more outlandish
things. The two feed off of each other, and continue a relationship
of domination and submission, with Takuya willing to go to degrading
lengths to gain Satsuki's approval. In recent years, a number of theorists
have suggested that sadomasochism can be a healthy form of sexual arousal
among consenting individuals. While there may be a core of truth to
this, this film is not a good example. There is a strong element of
self-destruction and lack of self-respect in the behavior of the two
lovers, and Satsuki admits she has thought of suicide.
Although
I'm not completely sure what the director had in mind in making this
film, Moonlight Whispers touched me deeply. Even when I was repulsed
by the behavior of the characters, I felt sympathy for their pain. There
is no trace of exploitation in Shiota's film and, while mental health
experts might frown, the relationship feels organic to the characters
and not pathological. The director makes no judgments, showing only
the lengths people with low self-esteem will go to feel wanted and needed.
As Georges Bernanos wrote, "How easy it is to hate oneself. True grace
is to forget. Yet if pride could die in us, the supreme grace would
be to love oneself in all simplicity."
Shohei
Imamaura's Black Rain was released in 1989, at the height
of the AIDS epidemic, a fact that gives this film about the slow deterioration
of Hiroshima radiation victims an added poignancy. The black rain in
the title refers to the combination of ash, radioactive fallout, and
water that fell one or two hours after the explosion. There have been
other books and films about the dropping of the atomic bomb but none
as unique and powerful as this one. Based on a novel by Masuji Ibuse,
who gathered information from interviews and the diaries of real-life
bomb victims, the film depicts how an entire family is affected psychologically
as well as physically years after the bomb dropped. It is a horrifying
vision, but one that resonates with compassion for humanity.
The
film begins in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, as soldiers and civilians
go about their normal daily activities. Suddenly a blinding light flashes
and a thunderous blast is heard. Almost every single building is destroyed
or damaged beyond repair. The first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city
is now a part of history. Survivors must somehow restart their lives,
unaware of the bomb's devastating after-effects. Filmed in high-contrast
black and white, the story centers around Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka), a
young woman who is caught in the radioactive rain as her boat heads
back to the city to search for friends and relatives. Imamura shows
us indelible images that remain with us: a young boy with skin hanging
from his body pleads with his brother to recognize him, an older man
is in tears over his inability to free his son from piles of debris,
a mother is in torment as she rocks the blackened body of her child.
When
the family returns to their rural home, Yasuko's life is forever changed.
She sees her friends dying around her and waits for the inevitable bouts
of radiation sickness that have already affected her Uncle Shigematsu
Shimuza (Kazuo Kitamura) and Aunt Shigeko Shimuza (Etsuko Ichihara).
Pretending that there is only business as usual, the family denies that
the bomb has affected Yasuko. "She forgot how Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were destroyed. Everyone forgot it. They forget the hell of fire and
go to rallies like an annual festival. I'm sick of it," says a friend.
Yasuko internalizes the tragedy, feeling shame for being different than
others and guilty for being contaminated. When her aunt and uncle try
to find her a husband, the eligible men refuse to marry her because
of suspicions about her health, even though Shigematsu has copied her
diary to prove that she wasn't directly exposed to the bomb. The only
suitor she feels comfortable with is another damaged man, Yuichi (Keisuke
Ishida), who has a panic attack every time he hears the roar of an engine.
At
one point, the beauty of life shows itself, ever so fleetingly, when
Yasuko goes to a pond and sees a sight she has been longing for all
her life, the king carp jumping in the water playfully, as if to say
that beyond despair there is still joy. Sadly we hear on the radio statements
by politicians about using the bomb once again in the Korean War. "Human
beings learn nothing", says Shigematsu. "They strangle themselves. Unjust
peace is better than a war of justice. Why can't they see?" Immamura's
Black Rain has hopefully allowed all of us to see more clearly.
©2003 Howard Schumann
CineScene
