Uzumaki, DVD

by Marc Wiener

Uzumaki translates to vortex or spiral. This Japanese film is obsessed with spiral patterns, as are the film's characters who inhabit a small town slipping into madness. Directed by Higuchinsky, the film centers on Kirie and Suichi and their odd relationship. Kirie having lost her mother at a young age, Suichi has vowed to fill this maternal void for her. However Suichi longs for a female mother. This is revealed in a flashback and when we see Suichi in the present he does seem to have taken on a feminine quality. Yet he also appears to have a romantic interest Kirie as well, longing for her to run away with him.

However, their relationship takes a backseat as we slowly realize all is not well with the town. Suichi's father has become obsessed with spiral patterns, collecting objects that have them, and spending hours filming a snail's shell. Meanwhile at school, one of Kirie's fellow students has taken to talking of her desire to be the focus of attention (the focal point of the spiral?) and wearing her hair in large spirals. Another student is exhibiting snail-like characteristics, moving very slowly, dripping slime, and only attending school in the rain.

If all of this sounds bizarre…well it is. However this description pales in comparison to the surrealistic images that fill the film. Often nightmarish, occasionally hilarious, the films visuals are unlike anything you have ever seem. Character's eyes swirl in spiral motions, whole bodies are twisted into them, and clouds swirl with them. However, it's not these overt images that crawl into your brain (like the insect that wants to wrap around the spiral pattern in Suichi's mother's inner ear). It is the blink-and-you'll-miss-them subtleties that abound that truly make the film unnerving. For example, bricks in the corner of a frame may have a subtle spiral ripple move through them in a way that will have you wondering if the effect was really there. The same for sidewalk blocks. Or in another example, background characters will be frozen in time staring blankly at nothing. While at first you might not catch these images, once you see them they are disturbing and throw things out of focus. Also, once you realize these effects are there the film takes on the effect of both drawing you in and distancing you at the same time. You are drawn in as you dizzily attempt to find these images in the frame while at the same time you are being reminded of the fact that you are watching a film and scanning the framed image for details. In essence, you are spiraling in and out of the movie.

The narrative itself is intentionally vague. For example the one character who claims to have discovered some information about the town is killed. This makes his whole story arc a dead end. But in a way, that is almost to be expected as he is swept up and incorporated into the films conceit. The film itself is truly a spiral, with no beginning or ending, but rather a continual tendency to collapse in upon itself. It is no wonder that in the end, we are left off where we started.

With its overall greenish cast and its mixture of overt and subtle surreal imagery, Uzumaki is not to be missed by fans of the bizarre. While the closest comparisons might be Lynch or maybe Cronenberg, Uzumaki is truly in its own realm. For the adventurous, it's a nightmarish tangle of a film that's worth the attempt to unravel.

--released on the Great Hoboes of New York on August 2, 2003