Blind Beast (1969), adapted from a Edogawa Rampo short story, almost feels like two different films in one. The first half presents itself as a thriller of sorts, concerning the kidnapping and imprisonment of a young woman, and the second half takes a hard left into psychosexual exploitation. This tone shift may be jarring for some and perhaps raise questions about its depiction of Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon that didn't even have a name until several years after this movie was made.
The film follows Aki (Mako Midori), a beautiful fashion model who engages in risqué nude work. Her photos and a statue of her naked body are featured in a gallery, and upon visiting one day she comes upon a blind man (Eiji Funakoshi), sensually caressing every inch of her stone doppelganger, fondling it as if he were about to make love to it. Aki is initially repulsed but finds herself simultaneously turned on by the display.
It turns out that the blind man is Michio, a sculptor who is obsessed with exploring making art through touch and that his specific focus is in depicting body parts. Michio poses as Aki's massage therapist and with the help of his mother, drugs and kidnaps Aki with intent to use her as his unwilling model for his masterpiece. The rest of the film is concerned with how Aki and Michio interact with each other as she roams his bizarre and surreal art studio trying to find a way to escape.
Michio's studio is fantastically realized--the walls are covered in giant white body parts and the center is dominated with two enormous statues of naked women lying on the floor. These figures are large enough for the actors to crawl on and run around, and it's quite a sight to witness characters have an extended conversation on a giant breast. It is obvious that Michio has a fixation on the female form, and that his art is a direct expression of his sexual frustration. He has objectified women in the most literal sense, to the point where he deconstructs them down to their separate body parts, finding each one just as arousing in a vacuum as he does combined into a whole package.
Aki is keen to escape at first but eventually relishes in the power she seems to hold over Michio sexually, which strains his relationship with his overprotective mother. Director Yasuzo Masumura takes a more ambiguous approach with Aki's characterization, leaving her motivations mysterious and wishy-washy. It does seem as if she craves the validation that Michio gives her so freely, but suffers greatly by letting herself become absorbed into his skewed outlook on life. The third act of this film will feel familiar to those who have seen Nagisa Oshima's 1976 feature In the Realm of Senses in which obsessive lovers destroy themselves with their sexual hunger. Blind Beast takes a darker, more gruesome approach with our ill-fated couple (this term is used loosely) investigating S&M practices with no safety nets.
Blind Beast is a fascinating look at what can happen when two people go too far into the depths of tactile sensation and lose touch with reality.
ARROW SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Brand new audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson
- Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Blind Beast: Masumura the Supersensualist, a brand new visual essay by Japanese literature and visual studies scholar Seth Jacobowitz
- Original Trailer
- Image Gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Virginie Sélavy.
--Michelle Kisner