I saw this movie two months ago but haven't gotten around to writing about it until now. I'm a little annoyed at myself about that because I really liked this film and now I can't quite remember everything about it.So I'll reference an e-mail that Jim sent me right after he saw it. He wrote, "I liked the peeping ex-con grandma, the weird father-in-law/ daughter-in-law sort of romance, the scenes where the murderer gets all goofy and sticks out his tongue, the haiku about the can opener."
I think his description is kind of dead-on. This film was way weird but completely endearing. I saw it the same weekend that I saw Zodiac. It was my weekend of serial killer films. However, this couldn't have been any more different than the ultra serious Fincher flick. Everytime the film got too disturbing, Imamura would throw in some Chips type soundtrack music and everything was hunky dory.
The killer is a real charmer and beds many women along the way. He kills for the hell of it. He stuffs bodies into closets and then forgets about them. And, as Jim pointed out, there's some kinky sex going on in this film as well. Highly recommended.
Directed by Shohei Imamura
1979
BAM
