ROTTERDAM '06! Elaine's Back With Her Take On THE GREAT YOKAI WAR!! Miike Does Miyazaki?!

(Written and directed by Takashi Miike, co-written by Hiroshi Aramata)

Takashi Miike is a Rotterdam regular. Ever since he was Film-maker in Focus in the late nineties, the RIFF has shown at least two films a year by Japan's craziest director; in some years as many as four Miike productions were screened in Rotterdam. This year there is only one Miike movie at the RIFF, but it's a good one. In fact, it's probably the best film the man has made since "Audition", which is good news for those who, like myself, found themselves wondering if they'd ever want to see another Miike movie after suffering through the disaster that was "Izo" last year.

"The Great Yokai War" is a children's film, with plenty of demented Miike touches thrown in to keep slightly older and more disturbed viewers happy. It's not the first children's film Miike has made -– that would be "Zebraman", or, depending on your outlook, "The Happiness of the Katakuris". As it happens, those two are my favourite Miike movies after "Audition". Or at least they were, until "The Great Yokai War" came along.

"The Great Yokai War" tells the story of Tadashi, a shy ten-year-old boy who grew up in Tokyo but has since relocated to a much smaller seaside town. Life in his new hometown is hard: his parents have divorced, his beloved sister lives in Tokyo with their father, his live-in grandfather barely remembers his name, and as if all that weren't bad enough, he's bullied by his classmates, who think he's a crybaby. And then something strange happens. During an annual festival, Tadashi is chosen to be the next "Kirin Rider", a defender of peace and justice. All he has to do to claim his title, his classmates taunt, is to climb a haunted hill and claim a legendary sword which is supposed to be hidden there. At first Tadashi is reluctant to go up the hill, seeing as it's rather full of ghosts, but when unpleasant things start happening in his town and elsewhere, and strange beings start muttering about the impending end of the world, it becomes obvious that something Very Evil is afoot, and Tadashi has no choice but to get his sword and deliver the world of this evil. In his struggle to save mankind from harm, he is supported by all sorts of "yokai", spirits which inhabit everything from rivers and rocks to umbrellas and walls. And thus the stage is set for a battle between the forces of Good and Evil, whose protagonists just happen to be a ten-year-old boy, a pretty river sprite whose fate in life it seems to be to have her naked thigh felt up by young boys, an ugly green spirit who tries to hide his insecurities behind a veil of aggression, a young, gorgeous-looking evil woman with a wicked whip and a bad guy who just oozes scaaaaaaaaary. Oh, and a cute little spirit who looks suspiciously like a sock-puppet, obviously, because no kids' film is complete without a cute sock-puppet spirit, right?

Part of the reason why "The Great Yokai War" works so much better than any other recent Miike releases is the budget, which was obviously quite big. Both the CGI and the art direction are excellent, as is the cinematography. The direction is also pretty good. None of the actors is really outstanding, but the acting is fairly solid all around, with Ryunosuke Kaniki turning in a convincing performance as the young hero. Best of all, however, is the script, which is fairly tight by Japanese standards and remarkably tight by Miike standards. Whereas recent Miike films frequently made one wonder whether the script was even half finished when shooting began, "The Great Yokai War" comes equipped with a reasonably coherent, effective scenario which works on many levels and features laughs for the whole family. It even comes with likeable protagonists. While Miike's gangster films tend to be marred by the fact that they're devoid of characters one can actually root for, "The Great Yokai War" is chockfull of them, to the point where, except for the bad guy, every character is either likeable or funny. Even the bad guy's wicked, whip-wielding assistant (played with great gusto by Chiaki Kuriyama, a.k.a. "Kill Bill"'s Go-go Yubari) turns out to have a heart in the end, even if it's a little rusty. As for the eponymous yokai, well, they don't reveal much of a story arc, but they make for excellent comic relief. George Lucas, take note -- this is how you create enjoyable sidekicks.

As for what kind of film "The Great Yokai War" actually is, well, it follows many of the patterns of the classical Western children's fantasy film, which is to say that a shy, unhappy but imaginative child is whisked away to a strange fantasy world in which he/she slowly re-invents him/herself, helps his/her sidekicks get over their issues and saves the world in the process. We can all list numerous examples of the genre, ranging from "The Wizard of Oz" to the Harry Potter flicks. At the same time it's also a profoundly Japanese film. The world in which Tadashi finds himself and the creatures which inhabit it were based on the same traditional Japanese myths from which Miyazaki likes to draw his inspiration. As a result, the film frequently feels like a live-action Miyazaki film -- the film Miyazaki would have directed if he hadn't been an animator. All his trademark characters are there: the young, wide-eyed protagonist, the funny and occasionally tragic sidekicks, and the bizarre, occasionally enchanted creatures they meet on their way, including many Ghibli-like machines. On the other hand there's also the manga influence, which is clearly recognisable in the more violent and apocalyptic scenes. And finally, there's the inimitable Miike touch, which manifests itself in choice bits of dark humour and bizarre little touches such as the unexpected arrival on the scene of a microwave oven (hot sock puppet, anyone?), an unexpected cameo by Kirin beer (you didn't think Tadashi was the Kirin Rider for nothing, did you?), a full-screen warning not to try this at home, kids, right in the middle of an exciting fight sequence, and last but not least, an absolutely hysterical song about beans which turns what should have been the darkest scene of the movie into a side-splitting giggle fest. The opening scene is vintage "Gozu"-style Miike -- I can't think of another children's film which opens quite this bizarrely. As a result, "The Great Yokai War" is slightly darker and more absurd than most children will be used to, but I'm sure many children will love it, as indeed will their parents. It's the best film Miike has made in years, and then some.

Elaine