Page 166 - Nightmare Japan Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema
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Spiraling into Apocalypse                               153

                              the  film’s  penultimate  scene,  Desert/Dessert/Dessret’s  ‘final
                              performance’,  coupled  with  their  injunction  that  we  –  the  spectators  –
                              should  ‘live as  [we] please’, suggests  that  ultimately  breaking free  from
                              cycles  of  self-destruction  remains  a  viable  option.  The  future  is  in  our
                              hands and,  in  the  words  of the pop sirens,  it  is  still possible to  ‘find life
                              again’.


                                         Spirals and Vortices: Higuchinsky’s Uzumaki

                              Based  on  Ito  Junji’s  remarkable  manga  series  of  the  same  name,
                              Higuchinsky’s  Uzumaki  (also  known  by  the  English  titles:  Spiral  and
                              Vortex,  2000)  not  only  stands  as  one  of  the  most  unique  works  of
                              contemporary  Japanese  horror  cinema,  but  also  as  one  of  the  most
                              original  horror  films  in  all  of  world  cinema.  Highly  experimental  in  its
                              visual  style,  and  intellectually  challenging  in  its  socio-cultural  critique
                              and  meticulously  recursive  narrative  structure,  Uzumaki  has  been
                              described by critics as a ‘dazzling’ (Sharp 2000: para 6) and ‘dynamically
                              rendered’ (Macias 2001: 82) work of apocalyptic art. It is also a cinematic
                              vision  that,  despite  humorous  moments,  intentionally  exaggerated
                              performances,  and  the  playful  conflation  of  horror  film  and  romantic
                              comedy  tropes,  nevertheless  concludes  with  a  tone  that,  compared  to
                              Sono  Shion’s  Suicide  Circle,  seems  unremittingly  bleak.  Set  in  an
                              isolated  municipality  that  functions  as  a  microcosm  for  modern-day
                              Japanese  society, 5  the  climax  of  Higuchinsky’s  film  offers  only  the
                              faintest  glimmer  of  hope  for  the  future  of  Kurouzu  Town’s  remaining
                              inhabitants, including the  film’s optimistic narrator, Kirie, whose  careful
                              balancing  of  Japanese  customs  with  a  recognition  of  the  necessity  for
                              cultural  change  provides  a  potentially  valuable  avenue  for  escaping  the
                              entropic inertia of socio-cultural isolationism.


                               5
                                This comparison is rendered visually explicit when a televised emergency weather broadcast
                               warning  of  a typhoon’s (yet another spiral’s) imminent  arrival in  Karouzu Town  graphically
                               represents the impending rain and winds as a red spiral over central Japan.
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