Product: The Mystery of Rampo (1995)
Rating: 5.0
a tale of mystery and murder
"Life is but an illusion, the dreams of night are real" wrote Hirai Taro (1894-1965), better known by his pseudonym Edogawa Rampo...a name inspired by his admiration for Edgar Allan Poe (edogaw-aram-po).The film starts with a murder story (told in a wonderful animation sequence) of Rampo's, which is banned by the government for being "injurious to public morality"...he later reads in a newspaper of a real case identical to his story, tracks down the woman suspected of the murder, and she is the visual incarnation of how he imagined the protagonist of his story would be...and fact and fiction start to intermingle, with the fiction creating the fact. Rampo at times becomes the detective hero of his stories, in this beautiful and brilliant blend of realities.This film was a huge success in Japan, but strangely, didn't get much attention in the U.S.There's a myriad of symbolism in the imagery, fabulous cinematography using diverse techniques, some eroticism, a lovely soundtrack, and a gorgeous cast. It's a film I've watched many times, discovering more of its mystery with each viewing.