Haze

At first I thought that I would never see this film because it only came around to festivals and it was on a region pal DVD. But, that's to the wonders of the internet I was able to see it with French subtitles. And because, I'm so incredibly hardcore I watched the 48 minute masterpiece twice. Once, to see it through the whole thing and twice, to translate on an online translator what an idea what the subtitles were saying. I got a pretty good idea. But, I do not doubt my ability any longer to find anything that I'm looking for on the internet. When it comes to obscurities such as a short film by Shinya Tsukamoto I'm going to go after it like a murder case. The quality wasn't bad it was ripped from a European DVD and it was a very relieving goal to check off my list. It only irks me that stuff like this is so hard to see for fans like me. They should at least have it somewhere to maybe pay a dollar to watch it online. It was a difficult task to find a copy of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Drawing Restraint 9 on the web just to watch these films.

A man wakes up to find himself locked in a tiny, cramped concrete room, in which he can barely move. He can't come to remember why he is there and where he came from. He has a large wound which hinders his movement around the corridors to his stomach and is slowly bleeding to death. He begins to explore the narrow confines of his prison and crawls around the maze-like room, only to run into dangerous mouse-like terrain and sees horrible visions of Hell waiting for him at each end of the room. Finally he gives up on the struggle and collapses in exhaustion. Then he begins to remember images from his past. Clinging to these images he creeps forward with the last ounces of his strength and meets a woman in a place that stinks of rotting corpses. The man and the woman both try to recall where they came from, but their memories are so uncertain that they are not even sure they want to return. The man is ready to give up but the woman insists on going forward. Neither of them can imagine the incredible end to the journey.

Not just because it was such a hard film to get a hold of and see and I'm not 100 percent certain what all was said, this was easily one of my favorite Tsukamoto films. The film is horrifying for anyone watching it. Combining all the worst elements you can put into a horror film or a real life situation: Darkness, confusion, bleeding to death, mutilation, grizzly images, claustrophobia, lack of air, not being able to move, indescribable noises. I find it fun to watch a foreign film and not knowing what is said completely and try and guess on my own what's going on. Truth is though, the characters in the film could have said nothing during the entire movie and you would have gotten the idea of what they were thinking or trying to say. Shinya Tsukamoto's 'horror' in his films are similar to the feeling that David Lynch's films give me. When a scare comes into view it stays with me forever and bothers me for hours or even days on end. It's not easy to get some of these images out of your head, and it scares me further to think that someone can think this up but, it's art right? An excruciating film to watch and a well thought out idea from one of the greatest film directors the world is ever going to know.

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