Inju, la bête dans l'ombre

Plot synopsis:
A man discovers one of his literary heroes may be just as dark and twisted as his work in this thriller from director Barbet Schroeder. Alex Fayard (Benoit Magimel) is a French novelist who has earned an international reputation for his crime fiction. Fayard travels to Kyoto to help promote the publication of his latest novel in Japan, and he tells Ken Honda (Gen Shimaoka), Fayard's editor at his Japanese publishing house, that he'd like to meet Shundei Oe, a celebrated but enigmatic Japanese author who does not do interviews and has never been photographed. While Oe's works are full of moral ambiguity and dark undercurrents, Fayard is a man who believes that good can and must ultimately triumph. Honda takes Fayard out for a night on the town, and they visit a geisha house where Taomo (Lika Minamoto) is performing. Fayard is struck by Taomo's beauty but intrigued by a long scar running down her back, and she tells him (in perfect French) that it was inflicted upon her by a sadistic former lover. Taomo also confides that the same man is trying to work his way back into her life; Fayard offers to help her, and discovers that the cruel man who hurt Taomo is in close contact with Oe. Inju, La Bete dans L'ombre (aka Inju: The Beast in the Shadow) was based on a novel by Japanese author Edogawa Rampo. [D-Man2010]This stylized thriller stars Magimel (The Piano Teacher, A Girl Cut in Two) as Alex, a French crime writer traveling in Japan to promote his new book, until he is plunged into a dangerous world of bondage and violence when he falls for a stunning geisha. Blurring the lines between dream and nightmare, reality and fiction, Schroeder weaves samurai and film noir motifs into a self-reflexive puzzle of a film, which remains enigmatic even after the credits finish rolling. In French, Japanese, and English with English subtitles. [D-Man2010]

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
It's all been done before, but what the hell, it's done professionally.
Aside from Reversal of Fortune and Single White Female, Barbet Schroeder is probably best known for the two documentaries he made about two controversial figures like Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and French lawyer Jacques Vergès, aka Terror's Advocate.
His latest fiction work, Inju, continues in that direction by dealing with another mysterious, possibly evil man.The man in question is Shundei Oe, a reclusive Japanese writer who has never let anyone see his face, and unlike, say, Terrence Malick, he doesn't even allow his picture to circulate: the only clue readers have as to what he looks like is a disturbing self-portrait (think David Carradine in Kill Bill with a skin disease) he puts on the back cover of his novels, morbid thrillers where evil always prevails.
Oe is the subject of the studies of Alex Fayard (Benoit Magimel), a French college lecturer who believes the atrocities in those books reflect the author's own deranged fantasies.
When Fayard goes to Kyoto to promote a book of his own, an Oe-style tale minus the sombre ending, he starts having unsettling dreams and receives a menacing phone call during an interview.
On top of that, he meets a geisha named Tamao (Minamoto Lika), who claims to be stalked by her former lover: Shundei Oe.That's the premise: the rest of the film is a succession of murders, mysteries and twists, all delivered following the blueprint set by The Usual Suspects and exploited to the point of self-parody by the Saw franchise.
These parallels aren't just predictable, they're downright unavoidable, since Schroeder's blatant intent is to make Shundei Oe a cinematic icon in the same league as Keyser Soze and Jigsaw (the latter is more of a genre icon, but that's beside the point).
That this doesn't happen is due to the director mimicking the behavior of the film's protagonist: just like Alex imitates Oe without adding anything personal, Schroeder sets out to be a new Bryan Singer while being handed a ridiculously thin script and a twist ending that some people (most, actually) will find more obvious than the final revelation of The Village.And yet, despite that, Inju isn't god-awful or even boring.
How come?
Because Schroeder most likely knew the plot wasn't that strong and put all his energy into the creation of a memorable, perverse atmosphere, and he succeeds: the gloomy mood is adequately complemented by sly visual nods to Cronenberg and Takashi Miike, most notably the weird sexuality that is present in either's body of work.
There is nothing too explicit, but what is there is suggestive enough to wonder: what if Schroeder had directed Basic Instinct 2?
As for the acting, there is nothing special to write home about, but Magimel deserves some back-slapping for being a better actor here than he was in the abysmal Crimson Rivers 2 (still nowhere near the heights he reached in The Piano Teacher, though).And then there's the movie's major selling point, one of the best opening sequences in the genre's history: a Tarantino-inspired film-within-the-film that sums up Inju's unconventional charm in ten minutes.
The overall picture isn't a masterpiece, that's for sure, but that beginning is worth the ticket price regardless..
Master of Manipulation.
The writer and college professor Alexandre Fayard (Benoit Magimel) studies and gives lectures about the gruesome literary work of the mysterious Japanese writer Shundei Oe that is considered by him the master of manipulation.
In his underground detective novels, evil always prevails and Shundei Oe has never allowed anyone to see his face, and his only image available is a frightening picture on the back of his best-sellers.
Alex travels to Kyoto to promote his successful detective story that follows the same style of the Shundei Oe but with a positive message instead and meets his publisher Ken Honda from the publishing house Hakubunkan.
While in an interview in a TV show, Alex receives a phone call from Shundei Oe that advises him to return to Paris, and Alex believes it is a marketing strategy of Ken. Then Alex and Ken go to a tea house where he meets the Masochist geisha Tamao (Minamoto Lika), and Alex has a crush on her.
Tamao discloses to Alex that she knows Shundei Oe and his real name is Hichiro Irata; further they were lovers when she rejected his proposal many years ago.
From this moment on, Hichiro Irata loathed her and vanished.
When she got pregnant of the wealthy and powerful business man Ryuji Mogi (Ryo Ishibashi), Shundei Oe returned and stalked her.
Alex decides to help Tamao and Ryuji Mogi against the menace of the deranged writer, and his mind is blurred between fiction and reality in dreadful nightmares."Inju, La Bête Dans L'Ombre" is flawed, but also mysterious and intriguing.
The story is supported by good screenplay with murders and twists, direction and performances and a wonderful cinematography.
Unfortunately there are very few characters and based on the explanation of Alex that Shundei Oe would be the master of manipulation, I could predict the identity of the bleak writer that recalled the unforgettable conclusion of "Body Heat".
Nevertheless this movie is engaging and highly recommended.
My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Inju, O Despertar da Besta" ("Inju, The Awakening of the Beast").
Surprisingly decent thriller.
Inju - The Geisha Killer, alternatively known as Inju: The Beast in the Shadow, is based on a Japanese novel by Edogawa Rampo.
It tells about a French crime author who admires and has based much of his work on the expertise and skill of a Japanese colleague, named Shundei Oe, a known recluse who has never been seen in public.
But now our main character is about to travel to Japan and it just might be that he gets a chance to meet his idol.What makes this film work is its cohesion.
No single element in it stands out, nothing in it is all that extraordinary.
But neither does it have any weak elements in it.
It is a proficient mystery thriller done right.
The two main actors, Benoît Magimel and Lika Minamoto, are both talented and likable in their roles.
The Japanese setting is utilized well enough.
The score is nice, the pacing is nice and the twists are genuinely thrilling, though I did see the final twists coming a bit early, but that simply gave me the joy of discovery.Then again, I can sort of see why this film hasn't received all that much praise.
It doesn't stand out.
It is merely good in an average way, which makes it forgettable.
I'm personally a big fan of Japanese culture, which certainly made me more favourable to this film, allowing me to accept it from the start.
But, otherwise, I probably would have thought it to be a bit lazy and not that inspired.It's still a good film.
Definitely worth seeing if you're into thrillers and especially if you like Japan as a setting as well.
Don't expect any miracles, just lay back and enjoy a decent mystery story with an erotic undertone..
A waste of two hours.
I'm not sure why this film was made, every character is bland and the actors are either talentless or badly directed, everything is by the numbers; dream sequences, an incredibly obvious twist, no social commentary and no examination of morals or motives.
Don't expect anything particularly Japanese or French, this is as bland as anything out of Hollywood, it only inspires confusion and frustration.
Like many movies made about writers this is full of awful writing, it should have been two intelligent complex characters matching wits, subtly probing, dropping taunting elusive clues.
Instead it is one barely competent adversary foiling a totally moronic protagonist while dropping unambiguous proof and lucking into foiling the one able character who is then perfunctorily killed..
Standard, but not quite.
It's not about the story (or the twist therein).
It's not about the technical realization of the movie (there is a standard here).
But it's about the actors.
Not that they are bad actors.
But for a movie that has nothing much going for it (you should see where this is going from the get go), you need Actors who can carry this through.
Unfortunately there is nothing to remind them by.If you lower your standards, you might enjoy this a little bit.
But since the actors and the story don't give you anything to look for in this movie, you could watch better and other movies instead.
A french thriller in Japan, that is not successful..
if it not becomes boring.a French writer in Japan.
in search of a ghost.
a meeting.
adventures.
and a confuse chain of events.
the story is beautiful and the cast is nice.
but not Benoit Magimel or Lika Minamoto can save the film.
it remains a mixture of Hollywood crumbs and Oriental atmosphere.
drawing of thriller with few drops of erotic scenes.
and the end can impress at first view.
like a magic of clown.
but it is not really credible and seems be a kind of Pulp Fiction copy.
full of good intentions, its ambitions are too great.
it is not really a sin.
but the game with delicate ingredients for a story with beautiful air but without a real subject is not base for success.
only for a sparkle..
only for a sparkle..
not great but....
old recipes.
not bad result.
only problem - the story is far to be original but it has decent presented, the drops of Orient saves large parts, the cast is inspired and the ambiguity preserved in a correct form.
at first sigh it seems be an easy spell.
fascinating, ambiguous, far by great ambitions but beautiful.
a film who preserves a special flavor who saves the mistakes or the old ways.
Benoit Magimel is, not surprise, one of the good choices for the role of writer looking the truth.
and his work seems be more than decent .
far to be a great thriller, it is a seductive one.
a challenge and a meeting.
and Japanese culture's crumbs as veil to define the fight for understand the truth..
Not bad, for DVD viewing.
(brief report from the Toronto International Film festival) Despite the teaser on Internet, "Inju" turns out to be a somewhat mainstream mystery thriller except for maybe a little bit of kinky stuff that ranges from pretty standard to outrageously hilarious.
If you have seen enough mystery thrillers, you'll probably guess the final twist before the end, although how soon you get it depends on how much of a veteran of this genre you are.The plot has some elements of interest.
Top Japanese thriller writer Shundei Oe who leans heavily on the dark side has steadfastly refused to review his identity, showing on his books only an ominously drawn self-portrait.
A keen follower of Oe's work, French newcomer Alex Fayard surpasses his idol with his own work which, when translated into Japanese, breaks Oe's sale record, the first time any author has done it in 10 years.
As a promotion gimmick, he is invited to go to Japan to meet Oe, even though the publishers still haven't quite figured out how to find this mysterious author.
Then as always, a woman comes into all these, a bewitching and seductive geisha who get entangled with both authors.As mentioned, this is a somewhat mainstream thriller, without playing up the pseudo psychological side  a wise choice, making the movie simple and enjoyable rather than tediously pretentious.
Event-driven and clue-seeking under a formulaic structure, the movie takes the audience down a predictable path of mild thrills and occasional laughs (many quite unintentional).
The ending twist will not exactly extract a gasp from a seasoned thriller audience.
There is no need to rush to the cinemas.
A DVD will do nicely..
A standard but very effective film.
That's the best Barbet Schroeder film I have ever seen.
Not ambitious but well made, smoothly and solidly directed.
Actors are wonderful, including Magimel and his fellow Japanese partners.
It tells the story of a successful french writer who flies to Japan in order to meet, and somewhere provoke, a famous Japanese author.
A writer he usually criticizes with ardour.
Of course nothing will be easy for him.
He will have to face many "vicissitudes".
The worst ones...The ending is absolutely unpredictable.
I wouldn't have bet a cent on it.A standard but somewhere interesting and unusual feature, especially, I repeat, the ultimate ending..
Mainstream crime thriller that could have been a real test of character and wit.
Enjoyably silly movie about a literature academic and aspiring crime fiction writer whose career, night-time as well as day-time, seems to revolve mostly around a mysterious and reclusive Japanese pulp crime fiction author who may be mentally disturbed and perhaps even psychotic, "Inju ..." poses food for thought about the way films can be constructed and how Westerners view foreign societies and their institutions.
Alex Fayard (Benoît Magimel) has just had his first novel published and translated into several languages and it becomes a best-seller around the world, especially in Japan.
His Japanese publisher organises a promotional trip so after wrapping up his last lecture for the term with a screening of a film based on a gruesome novel by Shundei Oe, that famous hermit writer, Fayard jets off to Japan for TV and radio interviews and book-signing sessions.
While in Japan, among his marketing duties and sight-seeing trips organised by the publisher and his guide Ken Honda, Fayard meets and falls in love with a geisha, Tamao (Lika Minamoto), who seeks his help as she is being pursued by a vengeful and violent ex-boyfriend Ichiro Hirata who may well be the strange and disturbed Shundei Oe.The film starts impressively with a visually striking and melodramatic mise-en scène of the closing scenes of the crime drama Fayard screens for his students and for a while you may wonder whether "Inju ..." will delve into issues like authors' responsibility to readers to show the triumph of good over evil in fictional worlds where society flounders in moral ambiguity, evil is often disguised as good, good people are cut down and evil ones profit, and the universe itself appears not to care either way.
At least Fayard hopes to meet his idol and argue that point; the movie appears to travel that way, setting up Fayard as a crusader using Oe's plot constructions and arguments against themselves in his novel, and Oe as a sinister force who may test Fayard's stand and moral mettle with the same weapons, and perhaps leave the Frenchman a changed man of stronger steel.
Tamao may be the innocent mystery woman compromised by a past romance and her current relationship with her rich but violent and abusive patron Ryuji Mogi (Ryo Ishibashi).
Clues and warnings are left for Fayard to discover and he gets swept up in piecing together a puzzle of Tamao's dangerous liaisons and the mystery of Shundei Oe's identity, nature and what he intends for Tamao, Mogi and Fayard himself.Well the plot doesn't go as expected in a conventional, suspenseful, noirish way and astute viewers will pick up enough clues to crack Oe's identity before all is revealed in the twist ending.
Some people might feel a bit cheated by the MacGuffin device that drives what turns out to be a soap opera plot.
Admittedly the set-up is ingenious and clever if far-fetched and Fayard turns out to be no more than a puppet manipulated by Oe in a not very complex web.
"Inju ..." is more clever and intellectual mystery crime drama of the kind Agatha Christie and her ilk might have written if they were alive today and were aware of psychological horror / slasher and fiction / film noir genres and their elements.
Everything that happens to Fayard from the moment he leaves his apartment is a test of his character and intelligence in some way in a tight construction by Oe, and whether he wins or not depends on whether he can recognise the sequence of events happening around him as Oe's next novel with himself as protagonist.The acting isn't anything special and lead actor Magimel looks mostly shell-shocked throughout the film.
There are very lovely scenes of modern Japanese life that are reminiscent of the style of Seijun Suzuki's 1960's gangster flick "Kanto Wanderer" and "Inju ..." could be viewed as a travelogue of the exotic in modern Japanese culture with sometimes voyeuristic emphasis on its underbelly (the rich yakuza lifestyle, the use of ropes and knots in sadomasochistic sex) and the mix of native traditions and institutions with Western-style cultural sophistication."Inju ..." could have been a real cat-and-mouse game in which Oe and Fayard try to outwit each other, trying to understand one another's motives and Fayard himself questioning his own morality and original motivation in championing and criticising Oe's body of fiction where evil always trounces good.
Instead it's pretty much a standard crime thriller with considerable potential left unrealised that Hollywood could do better if the right hack director (say, Ridley Scott or David Fincerh) were thrown into the hot seat.
The opening scenes make "Inju ..." worth at least one viewing.At the very least, the movie can be viewed on one level as an intellectual subversion of Western presumptions about Japanese society, its treatment of women and the institution and of geishas and the roles they play vis-à-vis their male clients, and how one woman uses her supposed victim status and passivity to play two men and their weaknesses against each other.