MPD PSYCHO

Takashi Miike is a name that genre fans immediately associate with extreme Asian cinema - Ichi the Killer instantly springs to mind, as an example of the extremities that Miike employs in his films. However, Miike is far more versatile than many give him credit for and he has tackled many different strands of genre cinema - from murderous Yakuza movies through to the far more gentle dramatics of The Bird People in China. It's also fair to say that Miike is comfortable within any given genre, as long as he feels a connection to the material he is filming.

The MPD Psycho series, helmed by Miike, goes in a rather different direction to his other works, but is no less intriguing and the series is indelibly stamped with his trademark stylishness. However, these first two offerings in the series on the DVD under review here are also frustratingly baffling. While they're interesting to look at, with lots of interesting visuals, the storyline itself is very confusing and I have to admit to having not fully understood what these two films were about!

What is clearly understood is that in Part 1 a sadistic murderer is turning his victims into human flowerpots and Detective Amamiya Kazuhiko (who is apparently one alternate personality of Yousuke Kobayashi) is called in to investigate the crimes. Things just get plain weird from here onwards, with lots of surrealistic imagery, bizarre violence and a strange back story about mysterious figure called Shinji Nishizono, who transmits his spirit from person-to-person via telephone. The whole insane proceedings unfold in the shadow of yet another mystery character, who is intimated to have great influence and power, a 60's icon called Lucy Monostone. Members of the cult following Monostone have, for reasons not entirely clear, tattoos of barcodes on their eyeballs. As you can imagine, I was thoroughly bewildered by the end of Part 1 - and maybe that's Miike's intent! Who knows?

Part 2, is different story, but the central themes and characters from Part 1 are still prevalent. In this episode a murderer is on the loose and they are cutting the unborn babies from pregnant women. The victims are left adorned with barcodes and it would seem that hypnotism is being used. And once again the motifs of Nishizono and Monostone are in strong evidence, though little more is revealed about these characters.

To be fair, the MPD Psycho series comprises of six episodes (being originally conceived for TV broadcast), so it may well be that everything falls into place as the series continues. As it stands though, having only seen the DVD of the first two episodes, it left me very puzzled as to just what the hell was supposed to be going on. Also, as this has been adapted from a Manga outing, it may be that fans of the Manga series may already be clued in on what is taking place - and I imagine that these fans would make up a sizeable amount of the core audience in its native Japan. But those of us on the sidelines with no idea about the roots of this series are doubtless going to be left bewildered.

Having said all that, Miike delivers a visual feast and you feel compelled to watch in spite of not fully understanding what is being presented before you. The music is also fantastic and I must confess that I left the menu screen running for a good ten minutes listening to the song several times over. If you're a fan of Miike's work, you'll want to see this - but is it worth buying the DVD? Read on…

Film 2000 present the films letterboxed at 1.85:1, without anamorphic enhancement, and they look pretty awful. To my eyes they look liked poor NTSC to PAL conversions - complete with stuttering panning shots. Image definition was poor and the picture was far too soft. Honestly, this is one of the very worst DVDs I have seen in a long time and Film 2000 should be reprimanded for doing such a poor job in authoring this DVD. It's watchable, yes, but I'd be furious if I'd paid full retail price for this abomination. When you compare this with the lovely transfers put out by Artsmagic you realise how shoddy this release is. The colours are washed out, blacks are not as black as they should be, panning shots are jerky - it looks simply horrendous. The Japanese audio track is just about adequate and gets the job done and is certainly better than the video quality on display. I just hope Film 2000 learn from this botched job and will improve on any future Asian releases they may have planned. Also be advised that although the cover boasts some graphic images, all scenes of bloodshed and violence are optically censored on the actual print of the film. I presume this was done because the films were made for television and it may be that no uncensored versions exist - so be warned, just in case you're expecting a full-on Takashi Miike bloodbath.

As for extras, there are none - except for a trailer for the 'Maki Collection'. It might have been nice to include some background history on MPD Psycho to help unfamiliar viewers get a grasp on the proceedings.

In summary, I would say that the films are intriguing and worth a look, I found them ultimately dissatisfying because they were seemed very muddled and confused. But like I say - it may be a case of having to watch the entire series for it to make coherent sense. Takashi Miike completists will want to own this series, but I would advise looking elsewhere for them, as the Film 2000 release is far from definitive.

Review by C J Otter