I don’t usually review TV series, but this MASTERS OF HORROR episode presents a new twist, because I was rejected from Showtime and then released direct-to-video. MASTERS OF HORROR is an anthology series where a different horror director makes a new one-hour film for each episode. At first when I heard that Showtime had decided to not air Takashi Miike’s IMPRINT due to its content, I smelled a publicity stunt. Trust me, it wasn’t a publicity stunt, only Showtime preventing a flood of angry letters from swamping their network.
Miike is notorious for pushing the boundaries of horror. For Asian Extreme cinema he works at the most extreme. Knowing that something got this film “banned” from pay cable, I was morbidly waiting for the moment to come. A scene of prolonged torture is bad, but it doesn’t even compare to the shocking moments to follow.
Based on a hugely popular novel in Japan written by Shimako Iwai, the 1800s set tale follows an American named Christopher (Billy Drago, MYSTERIOUS SKIN) as he travels to a far off island of Japan in search of a prostitute named Komomo (Michie Ito), who he feel in love with years before, but had to leave behind. Unable to find Komomo, Christopher chooses to stay the night at the brothel in the company of a deformed prostitute (Youki Kudoh, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA), who subsequently tells Christopher that Komomo is dead.
Tortured by the thought, Christopher presses the prostitute to tell him what happened. But after one version of the tale, he does not believe her, pushing for the whole gory truth. As the prostitute tells each version of the tale, the story gets more and more vile and gruesome… and so does the prostitute. As film progresses, the more uncertain we become on what is real and what is not.
At first I thought I had missed something, but Miike deliberately makes the story impossible to figure out, much to the detriment of the narrative. I have many theories about what it all means, but nothing is clearly defined. It leaves a haunting feeling, but an unsatisfied one as well.
Much like his films AUDITION and ICHI THE KILLER, Miike experiments with narrative conventions. Instead of spelling out the story, he tries to use visuals to convey meaning, much like David Lynch. However, in IMPRINT, we are too often frustrated with the convoluted plot, leaving us aimlessly searching for meanings that may or may not be there. This undermines the overall effectiveness of the story. Likewise, as someone on the commentary states, we don’t have a moral entry into the story because all the characters are evil. This might not be the case if a certain reading of the film is true, but without knowing for sure we are frustrated yet again.
The film is very violent and gory, however Miike uses these tools to provoke and challenge. He touches on many vile topics, during the course of the story, almost creating a strange sympathy for the murderous prostitute in the process. He also presents some hot button issues in quite a shocking way, which can shake your beliefs. His pitch black sense of humor only makes the material more disturbing.
In the end, the provocative tale works because it makes us think and contemplate what this sad story of abuse and neglect says about our own beliefs and opportunities in life. Miike savagely reminds us that indeed there are hells on Earth and that sometimes the lie may be more comforting than the truth. Please be warned this is not for all tastes; it will rock you to your core.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
