Blue Christmas

Having just seen the brilliant SWORD OF DOOM by the same director, I was surprised to find that he directed this film also. This was shown, subtitled, at a Japanese sci-fi film festival at the Japan Society in New York City in the early 80's. It was on a double bill with a classic TOHO film.

Set in present day Japan, the film postulates about how people would react if suddenly half the population was changed in a subtle way by mysterious UFOs. The UFOs appear and whom ever sees them has their blood permanently turned blue. This causes a mass panic where everyone is classified by their blood color and all the blues are cruelly discriminated against and eventually rounded up in concentration camps. In the midst of this, a romance blooms between a red and a blue played by the leads.

The UFOs only appear very briefly, most of the film is taken up by melodrama and illustrations of mass prejudice. It's an interesting concept and the director clearly does not have much faith in humanity. Unfortunately, by the time the very melodramatic conclusion arrives (and it takes a while) I didn't care anymore and most of the audience had left in boredom.

The part where Tatsuya Nakadai, playing a reporter, stumbled around New York in a dazed state while having awkward interactions with random people was the highlight. I wish that had been the whole movie.

Unsurprisingly the movie shines best when Nakadai's on screen. He's in it quite a bit, and dominates the middle third, but there are other parts of the film that drag.

It has a great premise and a lot of great ideas. It's engaging in parts but meanders a little and feels unfocused at other times. Might also be a tad on the nose in some scenes, but not in a way that's a dealbreaker.

It drags a lot in the final third or so, but is partially saved by a Godfather-style ending that needs to be seen to be believed. This movie's crazy and inconsistent and hard to rate. I'll give it a positive but still somewhat fence-sitty 3/5.