In a country famed for its ultra-violent, psychotic on-screen killers – think about Takeshi Miike’s Audition and Ichi the Killer, or Imamura’s true crime-based Vengeance Is Mine, for starters – it’s tricky to appreciate the mildness of SAI Disaster from the auteur directing duo Yutaro Seki and Kentaro Hirase, who are premiering the film in San Sebastian’s official competition.
Clearly, this is not the kind of audience film that is going to become a cult item with crime detection fans, given that not a single killing takes place on camera, blood is kept to a minimum and violence is nonexistent. The stories that fill its two hour-plus running time are about average people leading depressing lives. As for the killer, he’s an amiable guy who knows how to listen. His uncanny ability to appear anywhere at will and escape the police, who don’t even believe he exists, marks him as mostly an idea, a symbol of unavoidable fate – indeed, a big disaster. Clue: his name is Daimon.
Hirase and Seki have an established relationship to the San Sebastian festival and to a certain strand of contemporary filmmaking in Japan. They have been working on projects with veteran director Masahito Sato since 2012, and together the three of them co-directed Roleless, which bowed in the New Directors section in 2022. The same year, Hirase co-wrote Hyakka/A Hundred Flowers, which won Genki Kawamura a Golden Shell for best director.
One might say that the only memorable character here is the assassin. He is played by Teruyuki Kagawa, who with his mobile clown’s face portrayed the identity-shifting movie extra so convincingly in Roleless. Here he is a master of disguise, able to insinuate himself into any social situation whatsoever and play a role so well that no one suspects him of anything, much less murder.
It is not really surprising that this ambiguous shape-shifter is the only one to stand out, given that the screenplay seems determined to portray the killer’s victims as familiar film characters from Japanese society. An inn keeper submerged in debt, a bright high school girl without the means to continue her studies, a young truck driver with a drinking problem, a lonely woman janitor in a shopping mall. . . Their stories are edited together over and over, their individual narratives inching forward as each grows closer to their fateful date with destiny. The cast is well chosen and even capable of touching us with their stoicism in the face of adversity, but the two screenwriters have not knocked themselves out chasing after originality.
There are other possible victims, who include a swimming instructor, a desperate housewife looking for company and even a jovial cop who is sure there is no serial killer on the loose, because everybody committed suicide. While suicide may be a major social issue in Japan, the attitude of the homicide squad seems a wee bit laid back, considering the glaring clue that the hard-working woman detective Domoto puts under her skeptical colleagues’ nose. They will pay for ignoring her.
The first victim is a humble waitress in a truck stop restaurant. As her bereaved husband tells detective Domoto when the police finally have a lead, he has no interest in finding the killer; in fact, he finds it easier to accept that his wife’s death was an accident or part of a natural disaster. The detective looks stunned and hurt – she has spent the entire film doing research and trying to convince her colleagues murder was afoot and one killer did it all. How ungrateful people are!
Certainly Japan has had its share of catastrophes – the film opens with a small earthquake, in fact. But this natural disaster proves to be a red herring, because it is man-made disasters the filmmakers are interested in depicting.
The string of murders takes cinematographer Shigeto Kunii up and down the country, using his camera to distinguish brightly lit malls and simple local eateries from the traditional architecture and tastefully muted colors of the upscale inn. But rich and poor alike are swept up in death, and a lot of the easy irony the film goes in for.
Directors, screenwriters, editing: Yutaro Seki, Kentaro Hirase
Cast: Teruyuki Kagawa, Anne Nakamura, Kaito Miyachika, Pistol Takehara
Cinematography: Shigeto Kunii
Music: Masayuki Toyota
Sound: Hiroyuki Saijo, Hajime Komiya
Production companies: Dentsu, Bitters End
World sales: Bitters End
Venue: San Sebastian Film Festival (Competition)
In Japanese
128 minutes
