Enjeru dasuto (1994)

Director:

Sogo Ishii

Writers:

Yorozu Ikuta (writer)
Sogo Ishii (writer)

Release Date:

24 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Horror | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Every Monday at 6 pm a young woman is murdered in the subway. The psychiatrist Setsuko Suma is called in to assist the police...

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatrist | Deprogramming | Subway | Cult | Fight

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kaho Minami	...	Setsuko Suma
Takeshi Wakamatsu	...	Rei Aku
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Tomoo
Ryoko Takizawa	...	Yuki Takei
Masayuki Shionoya
Toshinori Kondo
Yukio Yamato
Jin Akiyama
Tomorowo Taguchi

Also Known As:

Angel Dust

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Movie Connections:

References 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971)

Methodical and apt, it's the mind game crime movie to end them all

"Angel Dust" is about a woman who is seeking a killer. The killer strikes every Monday night at 6:00 pm. The killer targets young women, killing them with a lethal injection in a public place. The woman seeking the killer is a brilliant psychologist who allows the killer's traits to enter her mind and as she begins to think like him, she can use this to trap him. It's a classic set-up and one that's been done before.

In "Angel Dust" it's done with a flair not felt in the cinema for a long time. With careful attention to how imagery can shape the psychological thriller, (the film looks as if it were shot in black and white in the rain and then given to a child to color vibrantly with a 64-pack of crayolas) the film has a mood that is unshakeable. The film is not merely disturbing, but eerie. It's aura is not really reminiscent of too many American films - though some of the themes, such as brain washing ("The Manchurian Candidate") and psychologist getting to close to a killer ("Manhunter") feel familiar - but are done in a deeply original fashion. Watching the film is no easy task either. It's brutally methodical, leading the viewer on an excessive mind game, trying to figure out who's lying to who and who the killer is becomes nearly painful - keep some aspirin handy. The film's real trick is that it's story is ambiguous and has a wifty editing style. The movie can move as quickly as an action picture and then stop, on a dime, to examine something for up to 15 minutes - very succinctly, very carefully and very, very cinematically.

Pulling the threads together reveals that there's a bitter purpose to everything in the film's world. It's creepy and heavy as Stoudt, but none of the negative things I've hinted at are flaws in any way. All are there for a reason. This is one of the best crime films I've ever seen. It's absolutely stunning.