Director
Mitsuo Yanagimachi creates a gripping atmosphere in an ensamble character study about filmmaking. This film rotates around life experiences that the cast and the characters each engulf themselves in. The basis of the film the students are making,
The Bored Murderer, is about a Junior High student who kills to see how it feels. The storyline of that film echoes a number of plotlines used throughout the actual film. Students are stalked by girlfriends and professors, while others commit borderline adultry and later feel guilty about it.
The best aspects of this film are the acting, which is great, and the cinematography which is even better. The opening shot not only draws comparrison to Orson Welles'
Touch of Evil via the dialogue but also through the long strolling shot that takes us all across the campus and even through the traditional and modern Japanese culture.
The cross-cutting between the student's film and the actual film creates a very tense ending. It grabs the viewer and makes us unsure what we are watching. For those who have never been on a set it is an unique chance to see how a film is made and what the outcome looks like.
The depth of the characters and their continuing evolution through the script mirrors the chance in young adults and in actors. Like the ending, the film blurs the line the entire time between acting for
The Bored Murderer and acting in
Who's Camus Anyway? We learn what this kids are about through the difficulties they endure during the shooting of their student project. It's very much like Truffaut's
Day for Night which was the first mockumentary that Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest later popularized with their brand of tongue in cheek humor.
I enjoyed the references to La Nouvelle Vague directors (Godard, Truffaut, etc.) and other important films. There are also mentions of crucial authors and literature. This film really hits on many levels and I think it is one of the best mocku-drama's I have ever seen. It blurs the edges so it blends together properly.
Definately a winning film.