Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place — poor theology student Shiro can't seem to keep from going to hell, and taking everyone else with him.
The Criterion Collection brings Nobuo Nakagawa's 1960 surrealistic terror and damnation cult classic, Jigoku, to DVD. Like a nightmare, the film takes twists and turns that defy visual logic and story sense, plunging you - along with Shiro - into an absurdist world with no possible exit. Or is there? Before you watch the film, I strongly recommend reading the superlative essay by Chuck Stephens in the included booklet, and watch the informative documentary "Building the Inferno" on the DVD. Jigoku is not a film to see on an empty mind. Perhaps it is Shiro's indecisiveness that hastens his descent. The poor man is just not a happy camper, and as he broods, his fiance, family members, and acquaintances suffer the consequences of his inaction. And then there is Tamura, Shiro's evil friend. With friends like him, as the saying goes, you are sure to wind up in hell before breakfast. Tamura has an eerie way of popping up unexpectedly, and knowing all the dirt on everyone. So just who or what is he?
And which hell are we talking about here? Every religion has it's own claim to the greener pastures, and the turgid rivers of bubbling corruption. For Shiro, hell is a tenth-century Buddhist's depiction of nastiness, complete with images from thirteenth-century Japanese hell scroll paintings, with multiple levels of torture — all out for level two; dismemberment, disembowelment, and peeling-you-like-a-grape for ever and ever; next stop, eye-gouging and tickling your feet until you up-chuck. Really. I never knew the Buddhists had it in them.
Shiro's journey to torment begins with his insistence that Tamura drive down a bad road. Their car promptly hits a gangster carousing in the middle of it. Shiro implores Tamura to stop, but he speeds away, telling Shiro that no one saw the accident, so why stop? But the gangster's mom saw it all, and notes the license plate. She tells his gun moll that she saw who did it, and soon the two of them are planning to kill the killers. Shiro, guilt-ridden about the accident, tells his fiance, Yukiko, that he killed a man. Shiro appeared guilt-ridden before the film even started, so it is no surprise that he blames himself for the accident even though Tamura was driving the car. He insists they go to the police station, and he insists they take a taxi, though his fiance would much rather walk. The taxi driver promptly steers the car into an unyielding tree, and his fiance promptly dies calling his name. More guilt — just what he needs.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
I must see this!
2 - Mat Brewster
Me too. Sounds utterly fascinating. Thanks for the read, Iloz.
3 - Iloz Zoc
My pleasure, thanks. It's worth a look. Pay close attention to Tamura. Great melodramatic performance there, almost to overacting, but wonderful to watch.