Hab den Film gestern auf dem Festival hier in Köln gesehen. Ich war total fasziniert. Da ich aber schon so viel in englischsprachigen Foren darüber geschrieben habe, werde ich es von dort einfach kopieren und hier einfügen. Ich hoffe das ist nicht so schlimm.
me and my friend went to the fifth and last film we wanted to watch at this year's Fantasy Filmfestival. Without any high expectations we sat down and waited for the rest of the audience to come in.
OK... what did I know about this film before watching it? Only that it is actually two short films. One by Ryuhei Kitamura the director of ''Versus'' and the other one by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Both directors were given a the same topic to work on, a duel to the death. I also knew that Kitamura's ''Aragami'' would be running for 80 minutes and Tsutsumi's ''2LDK'' (''2 Bedrooms, Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen'') for 70 minutes.
I knew that ''Aragami'' would be set in the old Samurai days and ''2LDK'' in the present days in Tokyo.
Well, the lights turned out and the film started...
Aragami - Not Spoiler Free
Just like in ''Alive'' the whole film takes place in one place. A room inside a temple. Again, my thought was, ''Nooooo...!!!''
But...
A woman opens the door due to some knocking on it. In a rainy night an exhausted samurai stands outside. He carries another man on his back and he has obviously a few arrows in his back. Then he collapses and passes out. When he wakes up he finds himself treated to dinner with the man living in this small temple. The man tells him that he treated his wounds and that it had been two days since he came. He couldn't save his friend, though. When the samurai thanks the man for everything he wants to leave with the intention to bring his friend back to where he comes from. However, the man doesn't want to let him and when the samurai asks to at least see his dead friend, the man insists on telling him a story. It is about an aragami, some kind of monster which eats people. The samurai asks if the temple wasn't in danger if this aragami lives nearby. The man just replies, ''No. Because I am the aragami!'' Everything is quite and even the thunders outside seem to have stopped. It is a very nice shot. The two sitting face to face staring into each others eyes. After half a minute of silence they both start giggling. The samurai says, ''You almost had me there, he he he!!!''
Well, later it turns out that the man actually is that aragami. He can beam himself anywhere he wants in a matter of a split second, that powerful he is. The two continue drinking together and chatting with each other. The samurai is told that he and his friend both would have died if them man from the temple didn't cut out the friend's liver and fed it to the samurai. Of course the samurai gets furious, but he is reminded that he could have been dead. The man says that he has been waiting for someone for a very long time. Someone who could kill him. He asks the samurai how many people he killed and he says that counting them would be out of place. Aragami gets mad about that and says that one shall remember each life he took as if it was your own. Every movement, every breath and even the last look on their face should be remembered forever. He says that he killed 947 men.
The conversations get on and on until the samurai wants to attack Aragami. However, he fails and Aragami's sword penetrates the samurai. He falls to the ground and breaths heavily. Aragami just says, ''Don't pretend and act like a man. It's just a small cut.'' The samurai checks and the wound he just received has gone.
They start drinking and chatting again. The samurai is told by Aragami that he shouldn't believe that he became an immortal. The head and the heart would still be the weak spots.
In the end Aragami can convince the samurai to fight a duel to the death and lets him choose a weapon. There even is a very old gun between them.
I won't tell you any more from the film as it would be way more spoiling than I can account for. One thing I want to add is that the conversations are made very interestingly and you won't be bored. They give you a small laugh here and then, but then they will need your concentration again. Very well done.
The film is beautifully shot and the music reminded me a lot of the music from ''Versus''. I wasn't really surprised when I saw Nobuhiko Morino in the credits. He also wrote the music for ''Versus'' and to my surprise for ''Alive'' as well.
This was a great start for the overall film and I thought that ''2LDK'', the second film, wouldn't have an easy job to top the first or be even equal good to ''Aragami''.
2LDK - Not Spoiler Free
This film takes place in one night in one apartement only. It is about two young actresses sharing the same 2LDK (2 Bedrooms, Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen). They both return from the same audition for the same part and only one of them will get the part. They pretend to be friendly to each other, but each time you see one of them listening to the other, you can also hear what she thinks. For example, when one of the two says, ''I can't believe the director's assisstant took my phone number before I left'', the other actress just thinks, ''He didn't ask for it. You gave it to him, you bitch!'', yet she stays smiling.
The further the film goes, the more does the conflict progresses into arguments and intrigues and a few parts reminded me of Miike's ''Audition''. The film will make you laugh at not only one scene, but also leave you shocked.
This film couldn't top ''Aragami'', nor is it as good as ''Aragami'', but it is a great addition to the whole ''Duel Project''-thing.
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While ''Aragami'' alone would have been enough of a great film to watch it at a theatre, ''2LDK'' just couldn't give me the same feeling. So if both films were seperated films, I'd definitely pay to watch ''Aragami'', but would have to think twice whether to watch ''2LDK'' or not.
However, both in one feature film are really great and more than you would expect. As soon as the German DVD gets released, I will get my hands on it. Yahoooo!!!
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