Nightmare detective
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Nightmare detective |
| Original title | 悪 夢 探 偵 |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 2006 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK no youth approval |
| Rod | |
| Director | Shin'ya Tsukamoto |
| script | Shin'ya Tsukamoto |
| production |
Shin-Ichi Kawahara , Yumiko Takebe Shin'ya Tsukamoto |
| music |
Chu Ishikawa , Tadashi Ishikawa |
| camera | Shin'ya Tsukamoto |
| cut | Shin'ya Tsukamoto |
| occupation | |
| |
Nightmare Detective ( Japanese悪 夢 探 偵) is a Japanese feature film by director and screenwriter Shin'ya Tsukamoto .
action
The film begins with the introduction of a main character, the "Nightmare Detective". A man of around fifty is sitting on a mat in a room and drinking. Kyoichi Kagenuma, the Nightmare Detective, suddenly appears under a black cloak. This tells him that he is being haunted by his daughter's soul and that he should accompany him back. However, the man refuses to go with him. After returning from the man's dream through some sort of fluid, Kagenuma wakes up in a room. There this man lies asleep on a bed and part of his family is standing around him. The man's son had hired the Nightmare Detective to go into the man's dream and get him to come back to the real world. The family members are enraged as they have also hoped for information about the man's estate. They want Kagenuma to leave and they give him some disparaging money, which he doesn't accept. On leaving the room, he picks up a few thoughts from the family, but they only revolve around the man's inheritance. The faces of the family members begin to contort and Kagenuma leaves the place with the words: "I hate it."
Then there is a first suicide. A young girl who wants to commit suicide sits in front of a Tokyo skyscraper and uses her cell phone to talk to a like-minded person. She has a pair of scissors in her hand and is constantly looking at them. The interlocutor tells him during the conversation: “I felt you.” The girl breaks off the conversation and wants to go to her apartment. But she hears strange noises and is attacked by something invisible. She escapes to her apartment and stabs herself there with her scissors.
The crime scene brings the investigating detectives on the scene. They are the young Keiko Kirishima and her two colleagues Wakamya, who is about the same age, and Ishida, who has been investigating the homicide for a long time. Keiko comes with a degree from university and some honors from her previous investigative work in finance. For her colleagues, investigative work on the street is equivalent to a voluntary descent. Therefore Ishida does not take it seriously. Your clothes with mini skirts and stiletto heels support this. Ishida immediately dismissed the case as suicide, but Keiko insists on further investigations and also has the victim's cell phone checked, which is still in his hand.
Checking the cell phone shows that the number displayed was also dialed in other suicides. A man had stabbed himself in his sleep, in front of his wife.
The chairman of the homicide squad now chooses two ways how the team should track down the perpetrator, who is christened Zero. Ishida is supposed to try to call Zero and pretend that he wants to commit suicide. Keiko is assigned to investigate the supernatural side of the case. She is annoyed about it, but goes to work with her colleague Wakamya after the one. With a tip from an employee, they go to Kagenuma, who lives in a run-down house. They find him asleep, apparently trapped in a dream. He tosses and turns and finally lets his worried mother wake him up. When he is awake, Wakamya clarifies the case and asks him for assistance. In response, Kagenuma pours water that Keiko had placed before him in the direction of the investigators. They then leave the room, Keiko leaves her card there. Ishida tries unsuccessfully to contact the killer. Keiko studies the crime scene photos and is interrupted by Wakamya, who advises her not to be too rebellious. Keiko admits not being able to submit. Keiko goes home and falls asleep. Wakamya calls her and I say that he reached out to the killer. Keiko is alerted and drives to the police station. Before doing this, she asks Kagenuma to help her. Kagenuma and Keiko arrive at the police station and find Wakamya sleeping on a bunk. Kagenuma latches onto the dream of Wakamya and meets Zero there, in the form of a knife-wielding monster. Kagenuma only manages to injure the monster and passes out. Wakamya is at the mercy of the monster and is killed in his dream. In the real world, like the previous victim, he repeatedly stabs himself in the stomach and neck with a knife. Kagenuma comes to the hospital. Keiko visits him there and falls asleep by his bed. In her dream she meets herself and sees how she tightens her neck. Kagenuma comes into her dream and wakes her up with it. Keiko immediately decides to call Zero himself and pretend to be suicidal. She suggests to Kagenuma that the two of them together could hunt down Zero. Kagenuma doesn't want to deal with the case any further, but Keiko makes the call anyway. She reaches Zero, who explains to her that he knew that her desire to commit suicide was real and also says: "I felt you". Keiko hangs up, frightened, and goes back to the station. She meets Ishida, who tells her that she is right in her suspicion that Zero kills his victims through their dreams. Keiko is upset and orders him to catch the murderer in the real world, while she tries to confront him in a dream. Then she goes to her apartment and realizes that she is in great danger. She makes coffee and hides all the knives in her household. A little later she falls asleep and is now in her dream. There she goes through her apartment and finds the same knife that the previous victims used to kill themselves on her sofa. She wakes up again and rushes to Kagenuma's hospital and asks him again for help. Both fall asleep and are in the dream world controlled by Zero. Keiko wanders through a gloomy chemistry laboratory at a school. Zero is there as a monster and is chasing her. She can hide in a shaft behind a metal door, but the monster finds a way inside. Before the monster can attack her, Kagenuma appears and fights the monster. During the duel, there are some flashbacks that explain that as a child, Zero was punished by being put into the shaft in which Keiko is hiding in this chemical laboratory. There he had to watch his little sister die unhappily. The duel ends with a defeat for Zero, who throws himself through the window and is run over. In the real world, Zero was hospitalized by an emergency doctor during this time. He had his cell phone in hand, which he didn't want to let go of. He dies in the hospital bed. Keiko and Kagenuma wake up in Kagenuma's hospital room. A little later they meet again at a lake. Keiko decides that she wants to continue with her police work, although no one will believe the true context of the case. Kagenuma no longer wants to see his ability to get into other people's dreams as a punishment, but wants to use it.
The heroes of the film
In Nightmare Detective there are two heroes who meet and carry out the hero's typical journey. They have to leave their familiar world and pass various tests. Both also appear as threshold guardians, mentors or clients.
Keiko as Everyman Hero
Keiko represents the Everyman Hero who goes through the typical stages of the hero's journey. She has to pass various tests, receives assignments and her behavior brings turning points. She is going through a great change on her way. Keiko establishes the deadline for the final and wins the showdown against evil with a companion.
The first main character is already on the way to another world in the first sequence. On the drive with her colleagues, Ishido instructs her about the benefits of blue light driving. When she arrived at the crime scene, he criticized her inappropriate outfit with high heels and a mini skirt. An indication that something will soon change, because if it does not adapt properly to the environment, it will be adapted by the environment. It seems as if Keiko still has to get used to the new environment. She resists it and harshly replies whether this is an order. Immediately afterwards in the next sequence she is confronted with the corpse of the alleged suicide victim. She turns away in disgust, but cannot escape the situation and has to prove herself. When she entered the room with the corpse, she also entered a new world that no longer has much to do with her previous desk work. Her good university degree does not help her in this situation. She is where she wanted to go now and has to deal with this test. At the sight of the corpse, Ishido suggests that his colleague go out to eat. Keiko rebukes him. Her professional attitude, which is later explained by her backstory of the A degree, comes out here for the first time. Keiko insists on further investigation as she has a suspicion. Ishido is annoyed because the case seems clear to him. Keiko comes from the desk straight onto the street. She has an excellent degree and some successes in the "fight against crime" (film quote) to show. She wants to gain practical experience at the places where the action is. Your entry into the homicide squad begins with the crime scene inspection. Only in a later sequence will she be presented to the entire college. There she stands motionless next to her superior and looks aggressively at her employees.
Keiko's initial suspicions are confirmed and further investigations into the case follow. To Keiko's displeasure, Ishido is assigned to bait the killer with a phone call while she is supposed to investigate the supernatural side of the case. This is a turning point as Keiko now needs to contact someone who is supposed to be able to invade other people's dreams. She receives an assignment that takes her away from her actual needs and changes them in the course of what is happening. This fashion forces them to investigate, on the other hand, where their real need is to gain more practical experience at real crime scenes. Therefore, she is also dissatisfied and initially refuses, but lets Wakayama persuade her to continue. Together with Wakayama she drives to Kagenuma. When she enters his house and sees him rolling convulsively on the floor, she has already stepped over the threshold into another new environment. There she meets another hero of the film, who also becomes her companion. After she got the job to investigate on the supernatural side, she now assigns Kagenuma to help her. Kagenuma comes to her aid even after an initial refusal. In the police station, Keiko is busy with the crime scene photos and falls asleep. Wakayama wakes her up and asks her to go home. He also indirectly criticizes her rebellious behavior towards Ishido. Keiko admits not being able to submit. In this case, this is a deficiency, as there are strict hierarchies in the police force and in Japan in general.
Keiko goes home and falls asleep. She dreams that hands are around her neck and squeeze. A first indication that she is already in the sick world of the serial killer and that he is already influencing her. She is awakened by Kagenuma's phone call warning her to call Zero. Shortly afterwards, Wakamya calls and says that he has already done so. Keiko immediately notices that Wakayama is now threatened and alerts Kagenuma, whom she asks again for help. She rushes off and chooses sneakers instead of high-heeled shoes. She hastily takes Ishida's advice and rides her bike to the police station. She finds Wakayama sleeping on a cot. Before that, she still has to climb many stairs to get to him. The inner overcoming of following Ishida's advice now pays off here. She can move forward faster. Kagenuma also arrives at the scene and joins the dream of Wakayama. Kagenuma can only injure the killer and Wakayama dies. For Keiko this is a new defining turning point. If she resisted the supernatural investigation before, she now wants to confront the murderer in his dream world.
Kagenuma comes to the hospital and Keiko visits him there. She falls asleep again and meets herself again in a dream. Keiko is startled by Kagenuma who suddenly appears in her dream. She realizes how vulnerable she is in her dreams and decides to take matters into her own hands. Before that, she was commissioned or forced to intervene by external actions. Now she is challenging her fate. Although Kagenuma warns her again, she calls Zero and tells him that she would like to kill herself with him. With this she establishes the deadline, because everything will be decided by the next time she falls asleep. During the conversation you can almost only see her face or her eyes. She remains motionless and shows no fear. She is ready to sacrifice herself just in case. Kagenuma wants to stop them, but can't stop them. At least now Keiko has overcome the point where there is no turning back. When she is back home alone, she realizes that she is in mortal danger. She returns to the hospital and asks Kagenuma again for his help. Keiko falls asleep there again and meets Zero for the first time. Keiko's role in the final showdown is limited to an escape and the portrayal of inferiority to evil. Only with the help of Kagenuma does she manage to defeat Zero. They both wake up in the hospital room together. The final sequence shows both heroes united in the real world. Keiko "returns" and wants to continue working with the police, although her success is being questioned by the police.
Kagenuma as the Lost Soul Hero
As a loner, Kagenuma represents the Lost Soul Hero. He also travels through the hero's journey, but shows himself to be an unwilling hero through his refusals and reluctance. His clothes and behavior make him the typical outsider.
Kagenuma is introduced at the beginning of the film. In this sequence he is already in a dream of a man. He was hired by his relatives to bring the man back out of the coma. In his dream he appears on the floor under a large black cloak. He tries in vain to persuade the man to return from his dream world before he has to stay there forever. He returns frustrated and appears in the room where the man is lying. The relatives stand around the bed. Kagenuma is telling people the bad news. He is thrown out of the room and is given money, which he refuses. In the corridor he picks up a few thoughts from the relatives. The sequence ends with his words “I hate it”.
The most important character traits of the "Nightmare Detective" are already evident in these sequences. Kagenuma looks frustrated and distraught. He has his hair tangled on his face and dresses in a black cloak. Its disguise with a monk-like cape sets it apart from its surroundings. The appearance under the cloak is mysterious, as is its origin. He also sees his opinion of the people confirmed after leaving the room. He thinks they are ungrateful and selfish. He himself refuses a reward because he wants to help. He doesn't feel comfortable in this world, but he also “hates” the dream world into which he can dive.
Kagenuma has often helped people who were traumatized by their nightmares and is therefore already known to the police. That's why Keiko and Wakamya visit him. You can find him in a shabby house. Angry family members and neighbors stand in front of his room. Kagenuma lies unconscious on the floor with a noose around his neck. Bystanders say things like “Again” and “What are you doing?” Kagenuma has just attempted suicide and this doesn't seem to be the first time. Kagenuma then sits on the floor with his back to the two of them and Wakamya describes the case to him. Kagenuma just looks back in disgust and pours a glass of water at them. He shows his refusal to help them through the symbolic bad water and warns them at the same time. The policemen appear again as the typical egoists who only want something from him, but are not interested in him.
Kagenuma finally decides to warn Keiko again by phone not to call Zero. Since this has already happened, Keiko calls Kagenuma again and speaks to him on the answering machine. Kagenuma hears Keiko's plea sitting in his room. He throws his hands over his head and yells that they should all leave him alone. Kagenuma still refuses to accept Keiko's assignment, but shortly afterwards he gets up and walks through his room. He keeps saying "I hate it" to himself. He knows that he has to go back to the unloved dream world and leaves the room. He is stopped in the hall by three children who ask him if he can play with them when he gets back. Kagenuma has now crossed the first threshold on the way to a new world. He has a journey ahead of him. The children ask about his return, but he cannot answer them because he does not know what is in store for him.
Kagenuma arrives at the police station and engages in the dream of Wakamya. Previously, he explained to Keiko that it was not his job to dream and that he only wanted to help acquaintances. He has a typical hero motif, although he doesn't want to be a hero. His disguise can be interpreted as a superhero cape, even if he appears barefoot and with a torn cloak more like a superhero parody.
In the dream of Wakamya, who is persecuted by the monster, Kagenuma also appears as a hero who throws himself from a lantern at evil and challenges it to a duel. However, he loses the fight because he is overwhelmed by an old trauma. As a young child, he watched his mother sit in the bathtub apparently plagued by nightmares - she looks at the boy in panic in this flashback. Later in the hospital he continued to stammer, "Why are you afraid of me, mother?" No further flashbacks or information about Kagenuma's past are shown to the viewer. So his backstory wound stays in the dark, matching the character.
At his hospital bed, Keiko explains the case and her own motives again. Keiko says he has to turn off Zero. Kagenuma is disgusted, because he only hears that Keiko wants to use him because he wants to commit suicide soon anyway. Kagenuma is embarrassed by his bad image of man and now feels encouraged to kill himself. He refuses to help Keiko and says that he wants to leave this world, but not in someone else's dream.
His renewed refusal drives Keiko to call Zero. He tries in vain to prevent the call. Kagenuma slowly realizes that Keiko doesn't want to use it. She now also sacrifices himself and thus forces him to make a decision. Beaten in the head, he suggests Keiko that they both kill each other so that everything can come to an end. Keiko asks why he was so eager to die and how he got that way. Kagenuma blocks and is left alone.
Keiko goes to see him again. She called Zero again and is very scared. She wants him to help her. Kagenuma falls asleep and meets the dream Keiko. Now he too has to make his sacrifice and throws himself into the almost hopeless fight. However, during the final battle he suspects that Zero has not mastered his skills. He provokes him and shows him his inability. Zero throws himself out of the window.
Kagenuma has now passed his final major exam and is returning to the real world. His surroundings have taken no notice of his heroic deeds, but he no longer sees his skills as a curse. He is even willing to help someone again if necessary.
The evil
The evil in the film is clearly defined. The villain shows himself in the victims' dreams as a murderous monster and wants to quench his thirst for blood in them. Evil in form cannot be seen at the beginning. Initially, you only have a subjective view and are forced to follow the first victim. For the investigators, too, it is only a number on the mobile phone display. However, after they have made contact with him, he is from now on, in dreams, to see as a knife-wielding monster. Unlike in the dream world, in the normal world he has a human form. However, this seems to be the only human thing about him. In contrast to its police counterparts, who always appear serious, dressed correctly, evil is in a shabby and dirty room and wears tattered pajamas. His surroundings are like those of a junkie and he himself only stays in this room and waits for his next kick. A suicide attempt brought evil into this situation. Together with a like-minded person, he wanted to take his own life, but found himself in his dream. There he killed the victim and drank his blood. That gave him the absolute kick and made him addicted to more and more. Zero uses the anonymity of modern society in which people no longer talk to each other and face their problems. Then, as now, he made appointments over the Internet with those willing to commit suicide. He uses the cell phone to arrange a specific time to commit suicide together. Once this contact has been established, he can reach the victim in dreams. To do this, he rams a knife into his stomach. So Zero will stop at nothing to get his blood. His approach is similar to the classic seppuku, also known as hara-kiri. He uses modern means to bait the victims, but he does his deed traditionally. Once in the victim's dream, Zero is superior. He has the surprise effect on his side and turns into an indomitable and terrifying monster. However, this also becomes a disadvantage for him. Zero feels invincible and is so surprised himself that he is now under attack in the dream world he ruled. Zero knows Keiko's hidden desire to commit suicide, but cannot cope with Kagenuma's controlled demeanor. He even mocks him and pretends to have no idea. Zero's superiority is slowly becoming his weakness, as he cannot handle his dream-walking abilities and only uses them to satisfy addiction. In the end, in a duel with Kagenuma, he has to realize that he is only a victim of his addiction and dies like his victims by suicide. He throws himself through a window and escapes the dream world. He lands right in front of a car. Modern technology catches up with him again and he is run over. His innards and body parts turn into the hood. It ends as a movie quote and, like the character Tetsuo in the anime Akira, merges as a human with a machine.
Themes of the film
Big city anonymity
The film is set in what is now Tokyo. Tokyo is the largest city in Japan with around 10 million inhabitants and is the largest metropolitan area in the world with around 39 million inhabitants. Only certain views of the city are shown in the film. You can see huge blocks of flats, subways and streets. There are no green spaces, parks or places where people meet. The city looks modern but cold and anonymous. People don't know each other and therefore have to use their technical devices to communicate at all.
suicide
Japanese are considered to be very suicidal. According to statistics, this is not the case. Even so, suicide dates, particularly over the Internet, made the headlines. This was also the theme in the movie Suicide Circle.
Seppuku
The traditional suicide of slitting one's stomach with a sword and waiting for death is also known in Europe. In contrast to Christianity, where suicide is viewed as a sin, Seppuku was considered honorable. The abdomen (hara) was anatomically regarded as the seat of life and will. So the suicide symbolically killed himself again. Seppuku could also be used as revenge. If you were wrongly accused by a fellow man, you could prove your honor and put the informers to shame. This was how shame and shame were brought upon the enemy. (See “Suizid in Japan”, Josef Amrein, Psychiatrie und Neurologie 4, 2005) In the film this traditional way of dying is used by Zero, who also rams a huge knife into his stomach. In addition, you can clearly hear Zero's innards dragging on the floor, as in the first chase scene. Zero's victims also stab their own bodies if he caught them in their dream.
technology
Evil comes to its victims through the cell phone. Cell phones and the Internet can be misused by evil forces and people are at the mercy of modern technology due to their dependence. Japanese filmmakers are particularly fond of mobile phones (see The Pulse or The Call). The evil spirits have always been among us and technological progress does not help people, so the modern achievements of mobile phones and the Internet are the fate of the victims. In contrast, Zero uses the classic knife and the traditional seppuku.
accessories
- knife
Instead of the more modern firearm, Zero uses a giant knife. He swings wildly with it and spreads fear and horror. He also leaves a small knife for his victims, with which they brutally stab themselves in the real world.
- Cape
The hero again will, Kagenuma, wearing a tattered hooded cloak. He dresses up for the normal world and thus resembles the American comic book heroes. With his "superpowers" he can help people and defeat evil. The habit also has something similar to a monk, which symbolize his lonely life and isolation.
- Music / noises
Tsukamoto mostly uses diegetic sounds of subways and cars as a background , reflecting the big city. Typical of Tsukamoto is the use of industrial noises that are put together to form a kind of piece of music. This also occurs in his previous films. Some of the pieces come from the Japanese band "Der Eisenrost".
Reviews
The Lexicon of International Films says: “ Despite some visual shocks, it is a more mainstream film by the Japanese director-enfant-terrible Tsukamoto. First movie role of the Japanese pop singer Hitomi. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.xpbulletin.de/t11029-0.html , accessed October 1, 2008
- ↑ http://www.golem.de/0602/43287-2.html , accessed October 1, 2008
- ^ Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (eds.), Horst Peter Koll and Hans Messias (ed.): Lexikon des Internationale Films - Filmjahr 2007 . Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9
- DVD “Nightmare Detective”, SUNFILM Entertainment, DVD released on: July 27, 2007
- “Learning to see films - basics of film aesthetics”, Rüdiger Steinmetz, Frankfurt 2005
- “Understanding film”, James Monaco, Reinbek near Hamburg 2006
- “Film and New Media Lexicon of Technical Terms”, James Monaco, Reinbek near Hamburg 2006
- “Youth Film Culture Basics and Practical Aids for Film Education”, Werner Barg, Horst Niesyto, Jan Schmolling, Munich 2006
- "Dramaturgy of the film - as Hollywood tells", Michaela Krützen, Frankfurt 2004
- "Japan - The Monster Island", Jörg Buttgereit , Berlin 2006
- "Basic course in film analysis", Werner Faulstich, Stuttgart 2006
- "Introduction to Systematic Film Analysis", Helmut Korte, Berlin 2004
- dtv-Lexikon, Munich 2006
- Journal: "Suizid in Japan", Josef Amrein, Psychiatrie und Neurologie 4, 2005