You don’t have to be a fan of Japanese manga master Yoshiharu Tsuzuki to appreciate it lust in the rainA sprawling World War II fantasy novel based on a collection of autobiographies first published in the early 1980s. But it does help.
Director Shinzo Katayama’s ambitious period piece is all over the map in tone, content, and genre, seeking to recreate the surreal atmosphere of Tsuzuki’s wartime memories, from action to comedy to erotica. The film won’t be to everyone’s tastes, perhaps best suited to local audiences, and is more admirable for its adventurous direction than its exhausting plot twists.
lust in the rain
bottom line
Well made but difficult to master.
Place: Tokyo International Film Festival (Competition)
Throw: Ryo Narita, Eriko Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Morita, Naoto Takenaka, Li Xing
Director and screenwriter: Shinzo Katayama, adapted from the manga by Yoshiharu Tetsuki
2 hours and 12 minutes
Katayama served as assistant director to Bong Joon-ho before making two feature films, including the critically acclaimed 2021 serial killer film, lost. Although Katayama conveys energy and style similar to that of the Korean musical master, he lacks Bong Joon-ho’s brutal precision and wicked sense of humor.
Check in for more than two hours, lust in the rain Nothing entirely makes sense for the first 80 minutes, making it overly popular, and then the final hour jumps between several different realities to explore more substantive themes – so much so that we never Not knowing what is real and what is false.
Initially, Katayama immerses us in the story of an aspiring manga artist, Yoshio (Ryo Narita, your name); an older novelist, Imori (Shadow); and local femme fatale Fukuko (Eriko Nakamura, August in Tokyo), she may or may not have murdered her husband. Neither the time setting nor the background itself is clear: the three live in a remote village called North Town, which is separated by border troops from another place called South Town.
The timid Yoshio is a rather unreliable narrator who is haunted by sexual fantasies which he translates into comic book panels. These include a scene early on – from which the film takes its title – in which he cunningly forces a young woman to take off her clothes in the pouring rain and then rapes her in the mud. (It should be added that rape can turn into passionate sex.)
In real life, Yoshio is obsessed with Fuzi, who moves into his cramped apartment with the equally shady Ethan. The two are loudly having sex while Yoshio lies in the next room, which intensifies the sexual tension between the three. It feels like one of them might end up killing the other. Or maybe they all agree to form a happy trio. It’s hard to say.
Things get weirder from there, although they also get slightly on track. Without spoiling too much (the better parts are in the second half), we realize that everything we see actually involves the Japanese occupation of northern China during World War II, including the massacre of civilians. Suddenly, Giff’s fantasies take on an entirely different sheen – they look less like the ramblings of a lecherous artist and more like a soldier traumatized by nonstop bleeding.
Too much, maybe too late. Katayama never quite sustains our interest as he oscillates between adult desire, bloody brutality, and erotic surrealism. A prime example is when Yoshio follows the mysterious girl from his dream through several dark alleys until he witnesses her being violently hit by a car. He found her body lying lifeless in a rice field and prepared to defile it with his fingers.
Again, it’s an acquired taste – probably best for plant lovers Watanabe (a type of literary autobiography unique to Japan), in which the author gives free rein to his memory, imagination and his powerful sexual desire. Katayama works overtime to bring Chu-sik’s obsession to the screen, employing a grandiose style for the war scenes and a slick intimacy for all genders, real or imagined.
romance in heart lust in the rain It’s borne by Narita and Nakamura, who are convincing as two lost souls who can never quite connect. The problem is that much of the movie is shaky and we never believe what we’re seeing. If you don’t believe it, then why should you care? By its end, Katayama’s intimate epic plays like a twisted rendition of british patientlove and war collide in a crazy way. However, the stakes never seem high enough.
