Rampo Noir

Uh.. wow. Here's one you will never forget. Four disgusting and insane shorts that seem loosely connected at times (themes of torture, mirrors, obsession, love, bugs, and.. uh.. Tadanobou Asano are in most of the shorts), all lovingly filmed by 4 different directors. Great acting and beautiful visuals throughout and never a dull moment in its 2 hour running time, this film is actually shockingly beautiful and very experimental at times (see the first story which is completely silent) and is just so full of ideas and life that it should be required viewing for everyone who's into cinema that's a little bit different than the norm.

Much more so than the overrated 3... Extremes, this is a film that actually manages to disturb you with its images. Just try getting the images of a disgusting, drooling, dying human caterpillar or a very realistic decomposing corpse out of your head. However, what really sets this film apart are actually the BEAUTIFUL visuals. I can't really describe what makes them so beautiful; you just have to see them.

Completely unnerving and endlessly fascinating throughout, this is definitely some kind of masterpiece that doesn't have any of the monotony that bogs down most pictures of this type. In fact, it's hard to choose a favorite short amongst the 4, because they're all so good! Highly recommended.

I also happened to have seen this at the very same Japanese festival in Sydney, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

These shorts are sick. The writer behind the original stories may have a disturbed and twisted mind for inspiring these disgusting tales of torture and obsession, and love (love which is so alien it doesn't really fit the word).

Of course many stories by Edogawa Rampo have been banned already in Japan for that very same reason.

However, these shorts were great examples of how dark cinema can get. These push right to the boundaries, where sense, reason, and any sort of real point is left behind in its own madness. And it does try to make points. They draw parallels between conscious and subconscious, reality and delusion. The surreal images and narratives destroy the boundaries between the two and the flow freely into each other. The film challenges what art really is. Whether it's a beautiful reflection, a horrific image, or something that is both beautiful on the outside but dead and corroded inside. Here we see that mirrors have the potential to be god, trapping us in its frame. Love is horrific. Horrific. These shorts have the potential to repel you in disgust, or to draw you in and lose yourself in its insanity, and for that reason alone it is a powerful work of art.

The four individual directors obviously had a daunting task ahead of them trying to make this. They had to present these tales honestly, and also visually uncover the madness behind them. I don't know about the former, as I haven't read any of Rampo's stories, however visually these films are amazing too. Especially Mirror Hell, which has amazing shots of the actors constantly reflected in dozens of different mirrors.

You leave the film feeling as if the makers had thrown a lot of violence and sex at you stylishly but with no real substance. The shorts are too surreal and disjointed to follow through with any of the points they try to make. The are no answers to be found in these shorts, and nothing profound to learn or re-learn. However, these shorts were never made with such intentions. They were made to show the madness of Edogawa Rampo. They were made to disgust you, and to provoke you. And they mastered that exceptionally.

Whether you like it or not, you won't forget this one.

"Rampo Noir" (Rampo Jigoku) is a gorgeous, creepy, kinky to the extreme as well as beautifully conceived and well crafted compendium of four stories by Japanese author Edogawa Rampo (a transliteration of Edgar Allan Poe and the nom de plume of Taro Hirai): "Mars Canal", "Mirror Hell", "The Caterpillar" and "Crawling Bugs". "Mars Canal" bookends the program and launches us into the three other nightmares. "Mirror Hell" was fun and simply GORGEOUS to look at! "The Caterpillar" (which is the pet name a woman has given her husband for horridly KINKY reasons!) totally CREEPED me out! "Crawling Bugs" was dizzyingly lovely to look at, though quite unnerving as the lead character's 'dilemma' was eerily reminiscent of one of my best friends! It has been released on DVD (region 3) in Japan and I. Must. Have. IT!!

I thought the movie was... interesting. Some parts a little too artsy. I'm not really here to debate the movie but, to ask about the warning in the beginning. What are the EXACTLY talking about pertaining the "intended effects"? I'm not sure if they're talking about the blockey distorted appearance of a scratched DVD or if its just the one I'm watching. After a few minutes it gave me a little headache. I thought that that was what they were warning about until towards the end when the guy in crawling bugs says, "what was I thinking?" then the movie was "normal". I had rented the movie from Blockbuster and it was brand new and undamaged.

This film, an adaptation of four (really three) short stories penned by Edogawa Rampo, is unfortunately more stomach-churning than it is stylish. Given the uniform elegance of RAMPO NOIR's composition and design, that makes the ick factor pretty high. After the relative subtlety and effectiveness of the first piece, "Mirror Hell," the ensuing parade of erotic leeches, quadriplegic sex, sadism, mutilation and necrophilia should be enough to put almost anyone off their dinner. Potential viewers, you've been warned. The images, which are beautiful, will stay with you, but they'll probably inspire a queasy stomach more than they will a sense of fascination and horror. Here's hoping it was more palatable on the page.