“Before you yell at me, yes I know this is not one of Eli’s movies. So why am I including it? I mentioned in the intro post that I came across a video where he talks about some of his favorites that most people probably haven’t seen. According to his commentary, THIS is the movie that made him wanna make Hostel. He also describes the final torture scene as “”excruciating””. Oh yeah, torture scene.
That’s kinda the one thing I knew about this movie going into it. That it got srsly \m/ by the end. It certainly took a while to get there. I get why. The film was trying to make a statement about (paraphrasing Roth’s comments) the idea of Japanese subservience, as well as the way that people lie to represent themselves and how those lies come back to get ya. Watching it play out, sure you can kinda get where they’re going. But the ending really hits it home.
Two things that got me about that final scene. It wasn’t the blood. It wasn’t the devices or the actions. It was the sound. Yeeaaagghh I’m shuddering just thinking about it. And beyond the sound is her expresssion. She starts with this calm and serene smile, and then it gets bigger like a kid binging on candy. What’s creepy about her look is that out of context, it wouldn’t be creepy. It’s not a Norman Bates smirk, it’s just pure enjoyment. That’s what scared the \m/ outta me.
What also struck me was how much our leading lady loved dance. That was a big part of her. Prolly not the best time to mention how important dance is to me…”