I have slowly become aware of a type of Japanese film that I am lucky to stumble across from time to time. These films, which are best exemplified by Charsima and Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name , usually center around vague intentional communities set up within the deep woods. Kichiku Dai Enkai is a more graphically violent example of this sort of sub-genre, [as if the aforementioned films were married to a more traditional horror film like Evil Dead Trap], but despite its intense imagery, it captures the distinct mood that I have come to enjoy.Kichiku Dai Enkai follows the downward spiral of a group of young political agitators brought about by the imprisonment of their leader. As they struggle with how to move on several crises come to pass, due in a large part by the inexperience of their new leader and her rather manipulative manner of control.
I found two of the characters to be worthy of note as they seemed so close to the young men that I grew up with that a palatable sense of discomfort descended upon me as I watched their fates play out. Sugihara is recruited by a current member of the group and at first he seems quite taken by his new friend and the bizarre new kinship he has become a part of. He has a great deal of fun listening to his friend strum on his acoustic guitar and even has a heartbreaking telephone conversation with his mother where he gives her vague descriptions of his new room mate.
At the first Enkai Party, where the new female leader of the group dons an Oni mask and dances around in a trance, he enjoys himself in the exuberant manner of an over protected young man who is finally beginning to see what his life might look like if he could just exert some sort of control over it. This soon sours as in-fighting rips the group apart.
The rest of the film becomes an exercise in intestinal fortitude as the actions of the characters become more and more violent and they grotesquely spray all manner of gore onto the screen. I have to admit I must be getting more squeemish as I grow older yet the graphic nature of the film did not ruin it for me. Of course, I wouldn't recommend the film to anyone without warning them of its intensity, but I will stand behind the fact that it fits into that group of work that I want to fall asleep to.
-Kurt Weller
