Blind Beast [1969]

The concept of romance is approached differently by different cultures. In the West, we keep returning to Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed teens whose families unwittingly conspired to seal their death warrants. That's pretty creepy and dysfunctional when you get right down to it, yet miles of film have been unspooled and gallons of ink have been spilled in retelling this story against various backdrops.

The tale of Romeo and Juliet has got nothing on the Sada Abe story, though. Japan's answer to the sweeping-yet-tragic romance contains 100% more prostitution and castration. In 1936, prostitute Sada Abe killed her lover Kichizo Ishida during an episode of erotic asphyxiation and removed his genitals, carrying them with her until her capture three days later. This ghoulish incident embodies themes of ultimate sacrifice and destructive sensuality that carry over throughout Japanese cinema, with "In the Realm of the Senses" being the most famous adaptation of the case. Yasuzo Masumura's 1969 art-shocker "Blind Beast" was most certainly touched by the Sada Abe legacy.

A spare, strange film, "Blind Beast" tells the story of a blind sculptor whose quest to find the perfect model to embody his "art of touching" leads him to commit an escalating series of crimes. Living alone with his mother in an isolated warehouse, Michio kidnaps a young model, Aki, who has been featured in a controversial series of nude photographs. Declaring her to be the ideal subject for his artwork, he keeps her trapped in his studio, a psychedelic nightmare of female anatomy in which disembodied limbs populate the walls and the floor consists of two enormous, headless female figures. This story doesn't exist in any world of logic--let's face it, if it did, Aki would've easily beat up Michio's elderly mom and escaped within the first five minutes of her captivity. Instead, Aki's repeated escape attempts are foiled, and through some sort of oddball Stockholm Syndrome, she bends under the force of Michio's desire, leading the couple to sightlessly explore their escalating sensual fixations. The film is almost bloodless but the events depicted onscreen have the power to disturb and the residual effect of the film lasts long after the last frame.

Only the first 10 minutes of film, inclusive of credits, take place outside of Michio's warehouse The remaining hour and fourteen minutes of movie take place in two interiors within Michio's warehouse (the studio and a bedraggled living space). Only three characters populate the landscape of the story--Michio, Aki and Michio's mother. Musical accompaniment exists in the form of a haunting harpsichord & cello piece that is still giving me the shudders two days after watching the movie. I was reminded a bit of the piano soundtrack to "Nekromantik" (which just might top the list of Movies That Upset The Living Hell Out Of Me")--the understated background music emphasizes the unnerving events that unfold.

The structure of "Blind Beast" is like a stage play--movement between one set and the next is handled in such a way as to underscore the inevitability of the disturbing climax. These characters are pushed from one place to another in a claustrophobic setting, unable and perhaps unwilling to alter their courses. The events set in motion by Michio's obesession alter the lives of these three characters and once the warehouse doors shut, their fate is likewise sealed.

I'm content to say this is not a movie for everyone--hell, I'm not convinced it's a movie for me. It's an unflinching exploration of dark corners of sexuality that walks the tightrope between art and exploitation. Grotesque without being gauche, "Blind Beast" serves as a counterpoint to much of the gaudy, extreme Japanese cinema that's gained popularity over the past several years.

A gallery of stills from "Blind Beast" resides on Flickr.