Otogiriso (2001)

Director:

Ten Shimoyama

Writers:

Goro Nakajima (screenplay) &
Takenori Sentô (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

27 January 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Nami has been creating artwork for a new video game based on images she's been seeing in her dreams...

Plot Keywords:

Twin | Video Game | Brother Sister Relationship | Same Actress Playing Twin Role | Inheritance

Cast

Megumi Okina	...	Nami Kikushima / Naomi Kaizawa
Yôichirô Saitô	...	Kohei Matsudaira
Kôji Ôkura	...	Shin'ichi Ukita
Reiko Matsuo	...	Tôko Koseki
Minoru Terada	...	Sôichi Kaizawa (as Minoru)
Yasunari Hashimoto	...	Voice on the Radio (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kim Little	...	Nami Kikushima (voice: English version)
Jeff G. Peters	...	Radio DJ (voice: English version)

Directed by
Ten Shimoyama

Writing credits
Goro Nakajima		(screenplay) (as Gorô Nakajima) &
Takenori Sentô		(screenplay)
Shûkei Nagasaka		(novel)

Produced by
Masato Hara	....	executive producer
Kazukiyo Morishita	....	planner
Shinji Ogawa	....	producer
Takenori Sentô	....	producer

Original Music by
Asako Yoshida

Cinematography by
Kazuhiko Ogura		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Seigo Hirasawa

Production Design by
Emiko Tsuyuki

Sound Department
Jeff G. Peters	....	sound re-recording mixer

Distributors

• Toho Company (2001) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Asylum Home Entertainment, The
• Highlight Video
• Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.
• Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"St. John's Wort" - Canada (English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and disturbing images

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12 | USA:R

Soundtrack:

Girlie

a new perspective for the passive viewer

Excellent production design within a tight scope that had enough room to breathe that the view should never feel cheated. I enjoyed the abundant MAC, Quick Time and Lycos product placements, a nice now to the media savvy. Some other nice touches, like a great video game level maker that is a Japanese go girl with blonde mane instead of the expected 20-something white male hacker stereotype.

Aesthetically I was enthralled with the stacks of amazingly, nay, beautifully disturbing paintings all about the home.

There is lots of playful stuttered editing, stylistically playing heavily on multiple planes of perspective (filmic reality vs. hidden cameras vs. the hand held camera one character is toting around). Reminds me at times of the aspects that I liked of the classic horror games like Seventh Guest. I think that really was why the film was nifty for me, a former video game artist / designer. The layers of real vs. game in the making and the tight interaction between the adventuring couple inside the mansion vs. the go girl artist and pensive programmer back in the design studio. The inter-cutting of the two locations combined with the playful changes moment to moment in virtual film stocks and perceived point of view really took this tidy, cute little yarn to a new level. Minute details like the miscellaneous brass keys helps convey the parallels as well; the keys seemed like level objectives true to genre. The design of the film further seems to question the movie's very existence as a construction in all as well as in layered fictional elements, wrapped up nicely with a sense of choices being explored without undermining the integrity of the narrative.

Admirably, throughout the film the narrative toys with the notion of linear versus interactive, which tends to parallel the comparison of film to video games respectively. This film actually approaches a sort of implied interactivity, a new perspective for the viewer in a time based medium to the proverbial backbone of the narrative that I've not previously seen, at moments both inside the story and as well a voyeur to the story. As linear progression without options is an abstraction of reality humans accept far too easily, this film did a splendid job of perverting the linear and can at least be viewed as a solid indication of the potential of newer technologies applied to film projects yet to come.