Himiko

Plot synopsis:
In an unnamed forest, a group of women with white-painted faces and robes wander to a ritual site. One of the women, Himiko, the shaman and translator of the Sun God, lies on the ground while another holds a bronze mirror up which reflects the sun's light. Himiko starts to convulse and moan, imitating an orgasm which symbolizes the Sun God penetrating her body. We see several different tribes, one of the Land People, and one of the Mountain People. The Mountain People are a raggedy, unsightly group, all conjoined together by a single rope, and donned with haunting makeup consisting of heavy paint, cobwebs and strings. They wander around the mountain like insects, twitching and in almost no control of their own limbs and muscles. A lone traveler appears, named Takehiko, from the far side of the mountain and enters the forest.
Himiko spends her days weaving cloth on a loom. She hears of Takehiko's arrival and it pleases her. In a ritual, the king of the Sun-God People, Ohkimi, holds a meeting to discuss the visions of the Sun God seen by Himiko. He also discusses the possibility of Mimaki as his own successor to the throne. Mimaki is pleased at this, but Nashime, servant to Himiko, believes that Himiko will be the successor herself, as direct orders from the Sun God. Mimaki is suspicious of this. He confides in his brother Ikume and King Ohkimi and tells them that Himiko might be losing her ability to communicate properly with the Sun God. That her love for Takehiko, a sympathizer of the Land God People, is not allowing her to translate the Sun God's words properly. Mimaki also states that he believes the Land God and the Mountain God are false Gods because they believe that God is in all things and any human being and living creature is able to communicate with God, and the only way for the Sun God People's kingdom to prosper is to take over the Mountain and Land People's kingdoms and force them to believe in only the Sun God. Anyone who resists will be killed.
In the forest, during a ritual, Himiko sees Takehiko hiding behind a tree, and engages in conversation with him. Nearby, Adahime, one of Himiko's assistants in the ritual, over hears them. Takehiko comes to the kingdom of the Sun-God people and meets Himiko in her quarters after dark. Himiko reveals that Takehiko is her half-brother. Despite this, she seduces him and they have sex. Adahime is not far away, and watches them from behind a pillar. During a ritual in the king's court the next night, Himiko addresses the court subjects of the Sun God's wishes. She states that the Sun God requires the people of the kingdom to also accept the Land God and the Mountain God as valid Gods. This shocks the people of the court. King Ohkimi refuses to believe that this is true. He restates Mimaki's assertion from earlier, that Himiko has lost her powers to speak with the Sun God, and her statement is solely out of her love for Takehiko, who is a sympathizer of the Land God People. Believing that Himiko is not wrong in her assertion, her assistant Nashime assassinates the king while the subjects are all distracted by Himiko's speech. King Ohkimi falls and Himiko takes over rule of the Sun God People. She orders anyone who did not believe in the Sun God's words that she would be ruler to be buried alive in the mountains.
The next night, Himiko and Takehiko again sleep together, but Takehiko is resistant to stay with her. Himiko tries to gain Takehiko's favor by offering him a cloth that she knitted. He accepts but leaves her anyway. Adahime follows him and meets him by a lake. She professes her love to him, pleading him to make love to her. After resisting, he eventually obliges. Himiko is horrified to know that her lover has been with another woman, and orders his arrest. Takehiko is captured in the mountains and brought back to the Kingdom of the Sun God. There, Himiko banishes him, but orders her subjects to first rip out all of his fingernails and tattoo his face in colors of shame. Takehiko leaves the kingdom bloody and in pain. The Mountain God People carry him up the mountain where Adahime reunites with him.
Back in the Sun God Kingdom, Nashime consoles a broken Himiko, who feels betrayed and unloved. Himiko proceeds to perform oral sex on Nashime. Meanwhile, Mimaki and Ikume conspire to take power away from Himiko, who they still believe is not acting on the Sun God's behalf, but rather through her own love. They do their best to convince Nashime, and he eventually succumbs to the belief that Himiko has lost her powers, and he keeps her stashed away in her room and Mimaki takes the throne as the leader of the Sun God People. Nashime then tells Mimaki that the young girl Toyo will take Himiko's place as the shaman and translator of the Sun God.
Mimaki declares war on the Land and Mountain God People. The battle between the kingdoms wages in a field. Takehiko and Adahime decide to run away to be together forever, but they are ambushed in the forest by Mimaki's soldiers who pierce them with arrows. Takehiko and Adehime's corpses are brought back to the Sun God People's Kingdom to show to Himiko. She is angered and sad. Nashime again tries to console her, but she tells him to leave. Nashime realizes that Himiko has lost all her powers and possibly her mind too. While she is knitting cloth, the Mountain God People kidnap her from her room and torture her. She calls out for Nashime's help, but he only watches and cries. Himiko dies and Nashime's falls into depression, crying out in the mountains for her. Ikume and Mimaki are shown battling with swords on a ridge, and Mimaki kills Ikume.
Mimaki has a court ritual in which the new translator, Toyo, comes and declares the Sun God is still within Himiko. Mimaki is disturbed by this. Nashime breaks down crying. The film flashes forward several years, and Nashime is walking in the forest, old and fragile, still crying over Himiko. He looks up and sees a helicopter. The camera pans out of the forest to reveal that it is atop a kofun, or ancient keyhole-shaped burial mound, surrounded by a suburban neighborhood with offices, houses, factories and a highway, revealing the film as a mythical fable shrouded from, yet within, modern times. The credits roll with aerial shots of more ancient tumuli and their modern surroundings.

Tags: cruelty

Review:
A modernist historical fiction. An imagined life of the prehistoric Japanese Queen Himiko, based loosely on a few mentions in Chinese chronicles.  Himiko is presented as the head priestess of the Sun Goddess cult and a spirit medium.  This cult later was used by the Japanese Imperial family as their claim to rule.  Himiko is made queen when the king is killed, but lets the men around her rule.  She is then deposed and killed because she lusts after her half-brother, who is more interested in Adahime, who supports the Earth Goddess.Done in modern style, with little effort made to have the costumes, the sets and the lighting be as they would be at the time. The Japanese language and characters' motivation seem modern also.Butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata and members of his troupe seem to add a touch along the lines of what one expects in a Fellini picture, but dance historians may be interested.. Himiko (1974). I like movies about shintoism, but it's really surprising how few of them are in circulation. New Wave director Masahiro Shinoda's movie Himiko, winner of the 1974 Strangest Poster Contest, is not a direct recounting of shinto myths, but instead a tweaked, re-imagined biography of shaman queen Himiko, here played by Shinoda's wife Shima Iwashita. Shinoda strays far from official history to create an author's take on power, sexuality and religion, mixing elements from both ancient Chinese and Japanese sources, with an affinity for slight surrealism.The movie's plot line has some similarities with actual shinto myths, most notably the one where the Sun goddess Amaterasu gets into an argument with her brother Susanoo, so she hides in a cave, letting the world fall into darkness now that she can't provide sunlight anymore. She is then tricked out of the cave and the world becomes bright again. In the film, Himiko falls in love with her half-brother Takehiko, but arguments ensue and she has him killed, while she is kept away from the public eye. She is killed by the courtmen and replaced by an oracle girl, who raises the mirror (Amaterasu's symbol) and proclaims that she is indeed Himiko, who likely got reincarnated. The camera pans way back and up, to reveal a contemporary landscape to remind of the history's progress through repetition.Of course, that's not all. Shinoda's film is also a comment on patriarchy and the gap between sexuality and political/religious duties. The first scene of the film even has Himiko indulge in a ritual where she orgasms by having the mirror reflect the sunlight on her genitals. While the film is cryptic, it's not outright undecipherable, and the sheer amount of exposition thankfully helps not to get completely lost in the world of inside shinto-references, with kabuki and butoh elements (butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata and the members of the troupe also appear in the film). The music was done by Toru Takemitsu, a frequent collaborator with Shinoda.The movie's visual style is amazing. It's like a mixture of Eastern mysticism, Jodorowsky and Fellini in his surreal period. The outrageous costumes and the red-white color palette, the shadow play, the expressionistic color compositions - wow. I also really liked the design of Himiko's palace, really stunning. I was also impressed by the image of Takehiko standing in the forest with a dozen arrows through him, or of Himiko in that beautiful shaman dress/make-up, visiting the forest with her servants.. Another Japanese cinematic piece of art from the previous century.. First off: much thanks to IMDb users mevmijaumau and psteier for their enlightening reviews on 'Himiko'. Personally, I couldn't think of more than 'Shakespearian' as far as the story is concerned. And the ending must have inspired M. Night Shyamalan for 'The village' (2004), right?Back to 'Himiko'. A wonderful, but rather extreme (violence, incest) tale of a couple of Japanese clans who are at war with each other. Was it just the 'land' people versus the 'sun' people? I thought there were 'mountain' in there, too? Or are they the same as the 'land' people? I'm not sure, as I am unsure about many other details. A good excuse to watch it again sometime, because beyond the story, this is a terrific, vivid piece of cinema that deserves to be seen more than once.I especially enjoyed the various costumes (the court men, or the ones 'dressed in grass'), but also the settings and the long, impressive monologues and the elaborate punishment (of Takehiko) scene. But perhaps that is unfair toward all the other scenes, because it was all captivating.An impressive ancient tale with a modern twist at the end. 9 out of 10.. Ludicrous and Indecipherable!. HIMIKO. Viewed on Streaming. Restoration/preservation = ten (10) stars; cinematography and lighting = ten (10) stars; set design = ten (10) stars; subtitles = eight (8) stars; music = three (3) stars; choreography = one (1) star. Director Masahiro Shinoda (who is also credited as co-writer) presents his take on the life and times of the ancient Sun Goddess Himiko (a shaman/medium and translator for the Sun God) who actually existed and ruled a chunk of Japan circa 200 AD. It seems to be a time of many deities limited only by the imaginations and political ambitions of those who invented them. The photo play deals with several including the Sun God, the Land God, and the Mountain God. Perhaps the most influential deity, however, is the Drug Dealer God! The cast and especially the "dancers" often seem to be high (and the film was made during the psychedelic 1970s!). Shinoda depicts the Queen as having epileptic fits and simulated orgasms (and, perhaps, drug trips) when making predictions and speaking for the Sun God. The Director also tosses in incest (Himiko seduces her half-brother) and ceremonial on-the-go orgies. There are many scenes of women with white-painted faces wearing spotless white robes wandering around the forest (rural homeless geisha prototypes?). Overall, this is a Kabuki-like play striving to be a Shakespearian-like tragedy, not a movie. Acting is so-so with most "dialog" consisting of voice-over expositions. Sort of like listening to a radio play of years ago. Surprisingly, this cinematic nonsensical mess boasts excellent cinematography (narrow screen, color) and lighting plus drop-dead art direction and set design. Interiors consist of eye-popping surreal art deco sets (about 1,700 years ahead of their time!). Restoration/preservation is outstanding. Subtitles are close enough. Music is unimaginative and consists of one or a few instruments. It stays in the background (where it belongs!). Choreography is a grade-school-level joke! A film that gives history a bad name! Highly unrecommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.