Review by Karolina Gruschka
Takashi Miike is a Japanese auteur known for his strange films: take Visitor Q (2001), for instance, a bizarre movie about a highly dysfunctional family or the surreal zombie musical The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001). However, Miike is probably most (in)famous for the disturbing Audition (1999) and the ultraviolent Ichi the Killer (2001). All of his work is a selection of different movies that do not really fit into one generic category, but based on their often violent, disturbing and extreme content Miike’s movies are predominantly considered horror and shown at horror film festivals. Over Your Dead Body is no exception, although it is in line with his more recent strand of traditionally orientated Japanese tales.
The story of the movie is mainly set during rehearsals for an adaptation of the traditional Kabuki play Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. The theatre piece is the tale of Lemon, a selfish, superficial and disreputable Ronin who, in striving for success, walks over dead bodies. Despite having a beautiful and understanding young wife, Lemon increasingly takes the frustration over his lack of prospects out on Oiwa. Seeing properous Oume’s crush on him as an opportunity, he stands by as Oume’s family poison his wife (and as a result the breastfeeding son!). Lemon grows increasingly repulsed by the now disfigured Oiwa and schemes a horrific plot that frames her as an adulturess, which will give him a lawful reason for divorce. The disgraceful betrayal of Lemon towards his wife and child end in the latters’ deaths. But no evil deed like such goes unpunished; Oiwa returns as a vengeful spirit to haunt Lemon and now, in turn, to make his life a misery.
As rehearsals progress, the play comes to life, blurring the boundaries between the Real and art. The relationship between cheating Kosuke (Ebizo Ichikawa) who plays Lemon, and lovestruck celebrity Miyuki (Ko Shibasaki) playing Oiwa takes a dark and disturbing turn as their situation starts to mirror that of the play. Japanese theatre, such as Kabuki, is a highly codified and stylized form of expression that requires complete dedication for developing purity of style. Miike leaves the audience uncertain as to whether the performers’ devotion crosses the line to manic obsession, or if potentially a supernatural force is at play that has transferred from the historic props (i.e. the recurring comb) onto the actors.
One can always be certain of Takashi Miike to go full out in regards to aesthetics. Over Your Dead Body does not disappoint, as it is a work of utter beauty. Do not expect glamor by visual excess like in Ichi the Killer, but a more serene and eerie visual indulgence (theatre folks, think Robert Wilson). Though the English film title might imply otherwise, there is not much gory violence in Over Your Dead Body either; as a result those rare savage moments work with such a brute force on the spectator’s mind, that s/he will be left haunted by it.
I saw the UK premiere of Takashi Miike’s new movie as part of Abertoir, the amazing horror film festival taking place each year in Aberystwyth, Wales. Of course, deprived of sleep, oxygen and ‘proper’ nutrition it is usually the funny and event-rich films that capture one’s attention (the films that made the top 3 of the festival were all hilarious); that said, in spite of the slow avant-garde-esque pacing, Over Your Dead Body lured, enchanted and kept me captivated throughout its whole duration. Consequently, it was sad to discover that the movie had received the lowest rating of the festival with 3.12 out of 5. I suspect that Over Your Dead Body received partially high and in part very low ratings, leveling it out to a medium score. Weighty films are simply not everyone’s cup of coffee, especially not in a late evening slot under the aforementioned circumstances.
Interestingly enough, Over Your Dead Body fitted perfectly in with this year’s theme of Abertoir: Video Nasties. It may be a cultural product steering more towards the “high art” side of film, rather than “popular culture”, but thematically it deals with the same issue UK moral panics were concerned with in the 1980s and 1990s: life imitating art. In this case it is (representational) life being affected by a “high brow” theatre play, as opposed to using a “low brow” and “obscene” horror tape to deprave the human soul. This makes me question why it is usually the filmic end of art-horror that causes such a stir and not, let’s say, a violent painting or a dangerous performance piece; there seems to exist the presumption that horror film audiences are of a less civilized and more misguided nature. Surely, the fact that academics like Johnny Walker and Mark McKenna combined own the complete DPP39 and talked about VHS collecting during Abertoir shows that to assume such thing is to make an ass of u & me.
If you get the chance, go and see Over Your Dead Body on the big screen, as the heightened audio-visual quality will only enhance this sublime, yet disconcerting master piece.