Imprint (7 Apr. 2006)

In the 1800s, an American returns to Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with, but instead learns of the psychical and existential horror that befell her after he left.

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Mick Garris (creator), Daisuke Tengan (teleplay),

Stars:

Billy Drago, Shihô Harumi, Michié

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Drago	...	Christopher
Shihô Harumi	...	Laborer #1 (as Shihou Harumi)
Michié	...	Komomo (as Michie)
Magy	...	Laborer #2
Shin'ichi Tokuhara	...	Laborer #3 (as Shinichi Tokuhara)
Takao Handa	...	Yoshi, Laborer #4
Hiroshi Kuze	...	Boatman
Miyuki Konno	...	Dead Woman
Yutaka Matsuzaki	...	Gate Keeper #1
Hiroshi Fujita	...	Gate Keeper #2
Sachiko Matsuura	...	Shamisen Player
Noriko Eguchi	...	Whore #1
Megumu Takada	...	Whore #2
Yuno	...	Whore #3
Miho Harita	...	Whore #4

Storyline

In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the American journalist Christopher is traveling through the country searching Komomo, the missing love of his life that he had abandoned years ago promising to come back to her later. He arrives in a shadowy island inhabited by whores and caftans, where he has an encounter with a deformed prostitute that tells that his beloved Komomo had passed away. He drinks sake with her and later he asks the woman to tell the story of her life. The prostitute discloses a dark and cruel story about her life and the sad fate of Komomo.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitute | japan | island | journalist | suicide | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Ashiocho, Tochigi, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

IDT Entertainment, Industry Entertainment, Kadokawa Herald Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shimako Iwai, the author of the novel on which the film is based, appears as the sadistic torturer.

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Quotes

The Woman: This island isn't in the human world; demons and whores are the only ones living here.

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Connections

Referenced in Imperfect Beauty: Make Up and Special Effects of Imprint (2006)

User Reviews

Quite good, but a bit too short

As a frequent viewer of Miike's production, I was waiting to see his first series episode designed for American/occidental market. Well, luckily, he stays true to himself and doesn't restraint his powerful, violent and destructed way to direct. That is for the good point.

The bad point, to me, is that he seems to have try to make a mix from his best scenes and some new ideas, condensed in one "single package". There are many good elements in this episode, but to much is to much (maybe one hour was just too short?).

I don't speak about the degree of violence (which was fairly high), but the efficiency of it. Out of the context, the torture scene of "imprint" is as powerful as the famous one from "Audition", for example, but what make the one from Audition so special, is certainly due to the quiet first hour of the film, and the contrast between the story and its end.

This time, the succession of powerful sequences is too condensed to give any scene a special status, and therefore the whole story looses itself onto a violent patchwork.

Anyway, this way to proceed is quite effective in some way: the over-exaggerated misfortune of the character is more comic (ok, a very dark humor), than dramatic. But once again, it was treated more efficiency in Visitor Q. The point of the episode isn't very clear either: is it supposed to be comic, nonsensical, oneiric, fantastic, gore or even erotic? Maybe all of the above, maybe it isn't supposed to be anything at all, but certainly, I is a Miike Takashi, and that's why I like his work so much: plurality.

To conclude, I would say that I liked it, but there was to much to say in a to short period, and therefore it results in a lack of contrast and a feeling of frustration.(mhh, if we could have stay longer in the mood of the final sequence...)