The Demon (1978)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Masato Ide, based on the story by Seicho Matsumoto
Directed by Yoshitaro Nomura
Starring Ken Ogata, Shima Iwashita, Hiroki Iwase, Mayumi Ogawa, Keizo Kanie

Features:

• Director and actor selected filmographies
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Liner notes by Japanese film expert and author Patrick Macias
  

Released by: Home Vision
Rating: NR (keep away from children)
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Avoid it.

Sokichi (Ogata) has a problem. Besides the fact that he's a spineless bastard, he's been running around on his wife (Iwashita) with another woman (Ogawa). Kikuyo, the other woman, has borne three children for Sokichi and is tired of sitting around with no money and very little food, waiting for Sokichi to take care of her (and his) family. So she snaps a bit and drags the three kids down to the city to confront both Sokichi and his wife, Oume. When it's obvious that Sokichi's not going to do anything and Oume is a total bitch, Kikuyo decides to teach Sokichi a lesson and leave her three children with the now pissed off couple. Big mistake.

Full disclosure time: I'm a white American. There, I've said it. I fully realize that there are cultural things at play in this film that I can't fully appreciate. I understand from reading Macias' liner notes that child abuse and abandonment is a huge problem in Japan and a big deal in their culture, probably even moreso than over here. That being said, and with that partial understanding in place, I still don't get this film. At all.

The box makes it sound like some kind of mystery, but that's a bit of a misnomer. Since you're seeing the events unfold before your eyes, there's no mystery involved--there's more of a dull numbness that settles over you once you realize you're going to watch three little kids abused for the majority of the film. Part of my problem is that I'm not certain what the point of this cruelty is...to show us that parents can suck? That people shouldn't have affairs? No clue. The other part of my problem is watching an actress shove rice into an infant's crying face takes me right out of the movie. I'm more concerned with the actual actor portraying the little kid than I am anything that Nomura and company are trying to prove.

I was hoping that Macias would help me out with some context for the film, but alas, there's just not enough there. It's a very general thing that only touches upon the cultural context that I mentioned above--that's it. Further confusing the issue is the original theatrical trailer, which paints the film as a touching story of father and son...when, at least to my non-Japanese eyes, it's anything but. It's three kids getting abused, period. And if there's more to it than that, then the film wasn't written for me and those like me (quite true) but more importantly Home Vision dropped the ball when it came to helping me grasp the significance of the film.

The feature I desired most during the film was an interview with the three little actors, just so I could know that they didn't all grow up to become serial killers. I would like to think that efforts were taken to reduce the amount of trauma involved for the kids, but since so much happens in camera, it's hard to deal with. I'm impressed with the trio of adult actors, if for nothing else for their ability to be such total and complete assholes to little kids.

Got the feeling that I'm sensitive about the whole kid thing? Yeah, thought I might have gotten that across. Anyway, until I get some more information to help me with placing this thing into some kind of useful context, I'm going to say skip it. And for God's sake don't let kids anywhere near it. It's literally the stuff of nightmares. And in a bad way.