daily tiger
42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam #7 Wednesday 30 January 2013 ZOZ voor Nederlandse editie
(news P3)
(Karaoke GIRL / Silent Ones / THEY’LL COME BACK P5)
(Tokyo Giants / Island of St. Matthews P7)
Nakata Hideo
photo: Ruud Jonkers
Hideous histories In a roundabout way, the credit for IFFR presenting the world premiere of Nakata Hideo’s The Complex must go to the English weather. By Ben Walters
“Exactly 20 years ago, I flew to Rotterdam from London”, Nakata explains. “I was studying for a year on a scholarship but I just wanted to get out – the weather is so terrible.” IFFR regulars might not be in the habit of celebrating the fest for its meteorological charms – but Nakata was in search of cinematic refreshment too. “I bought a guest pass and watched so many interesting movies. Rotterdam was already famous among Japanese filmmakers, especially young ones, for finding new talent.” Technofear
It was only five years after that visit that Nakata made his name worldwide with Ringu, the profoundly uncanny story about a haunted videotape that defined the genre of J-horror: anxieties over communications technology and troubled social and familial bonds mingled with the irruption of twisted horror into the everyday world. Nakata made Ringu 2 (1999), saw the original remade by Hollywood, then directed The Ring Two (2005) – a new entry rather than a remake of the Japanese sequel – himself. In the meantime, he’d made Dark Water (2002), another key J-horror title in which adult guilt, a child’s need for love and abysmal terror are horrifyingly comingled.
Out of the box
Hollowness
Since then, Nakata has made other tales of crime and the supernatural, but The Complex is being seen as a return to the J-horror template with which he remains most closely associated. “I tried to get out of the small box called the horror genre, but I struggled”, he admits. “But as long as the story is interesting, I don’t care what genre I’m making.” And the story is interesting, all right. The Complex centres on student nurse Asuka (Maede Atsuko), whom we meet moving with her parents and kid brother into a flat in a quiet, rundown suburban apartment complex where the only visible neighbour is another young boy. Soon, Asuka’s family are acting strangely and there are bumps in the night from next door... The film won’t disappoint J-horror fans, or more general audiences, with its tricksy plotting, elision of reality, fantasy and supernatural elements, frequent frights and building sense of dread. Also present are the familiar themes of guilt and alienation within the family, the generation of great suspense from apparently mundane urban architecture and monstrous visual coups to trouble our dreams. Nakata takes particular pleasure in unnerving audiences with scenes that might seem absurd in the abstract. “People laughed when they read the script of Ringu”, he recalls. “‘A ghost coming out of the TV? Ha!’ Then I was determined that moment should feel the most chilling or frightening. That’s the most challenging part.”
The Complex’s production was sparked by the interest of its star, who is transitioning from a pop career to film acting. In crafting the original story (Ringu and Dark Water were adapted from novels), Nakata took inspiration from samurai-era ghost stories about perilous romances between the living and the dead and a more recent source: Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 vampire film set around a similar apartment block. Like his own earlier films, Nakata suggests, the Swedish horror engaged with “the kind of loneliness or helpless feeling of a kid who wants to be loved or to be friends with someone – that kind of isolated feeling, that slight hollowness that a supernatural thing can take advantage of.” Strong mothers
Nakata’s affinity for such feelings might not be arbitrary. The filmmaker mentions an interview he gave to promote Dark Water, during which the journalist observed that Nakata favoured strong single mothers as protagonists. “I was astonished at that being pointed out because my parents lived separately and my mother had been such a strong mother. I had not been aware of it but I could not deny the similarity with my childhood.” The Complex, receiving its world premiere at Rotterdam, represents a kind of happy return to the past. During Nakata’s visit from London in 1993, he recalls, “I thought, maybe next time I come back here, I should bring my own film.” Two decades on, he has.
INTERNATIONAL film festival rotterdam
Industry event today 2 p.m. – 3.30 p.m. Expert debate: Raiders of the Lost Archive, on creating new works from old materials and archives. Moderated by Madeleine Molyneaux Industry Club, de Doelen, 4th floor. Limited access.
Today in the Tea House Amirali Ghasemi is a walking archive of Iranian art, experimental and underground cinema. He has a fine collection of work showing in the Invisible Present Tense programme, but has even more special things on his hard drive. This afternoon in the Tea House he will present some of these that played in his recent Limited Access festival in Tehran. In addition to Amirali’s presentation, young animation filmmaker Mahsa Shoja Araghi (Magnificent Life of the Prince) will also be there to show some short films by her friends. Tea House/Gallery Inside Iran, Schouwburgplein 54, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.