Charisma

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

 

The last few years have seen Japanese films climb out of the creative doldrums. This year, the name on everyone's lips is Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation), a prolific 43-year-old who has made 19 films (including a six-part feature series), since 1983.

A recent retrospective of Kurosawa's work at the Hong Kong International Film Festival saw The Economist magazine describe him as one of the fastest developing talents in Asian cinema today, a statement that mirrors the acclaim he is gathering back home in Japan.

As The Economist pointed out, Kurosawa specialises in genre pictures - gangster stories, horror, even mild pornography - to which he brings his own quirky sense of humour. They are sometimes extremely violent. Indeed, his stories' occasional bursts of post-modernist absurdity recall top Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami (A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland) - and the bizarre-sounding detective story Charisma is no exception.

Bizarrely, the production notes summarise Charisma in verse: "Deep in a forest stands a peculiar tree/Some claim it is justice to destroy it, others strive to protect it/People stand divided over this tree. A man comes to this strife-ridden forest/Once they called the tree Charisma. Soon they call the man Charisma."

The man is the seasoned detective Yabuike, who's called in to rescue a politician held hostage by a lunatic. He fumbles the rescue and sets off in disgrace to a mountain forest, where he encounters a weird tree - more like a piece of art - known as Charisma. Charisma has caused a war to erupt in the forest. Some say it is evil, others claim it is a force for good. On which side should Yabuike come down?

The eagerly-awaited Charisma, which has been in preparation for some time, was written with the help of a Sundance scholarship. Extra attraction is provided by the sublime Koji Yakusho (The Eel, Shall We Dance?) in the lead role. Expect Haruki Murakami meets Princess Mononoke, with a touch of Takeshi Kitano thrown in for good measure. Suki Lee