Gishiki (The Ceremony)
Posted by martinteller on May 19, 2007
I spent the week watching the “Planet Earth” documentary series, which was good, but I’m glad to be watching movies again. Gishiki gives me mixed feelings. I really struggled to get through the movie at first. The family dynamic, though complicated and confusing (incest galore!), should have been interesting, but it just didn’t push my buttons at all. I dunno… maybe it was the excessive voice-over. However, things got cooking in the final half hour, starting with the bride-less wedding. At this point I started to enjoy myself. I still don’t quite know what the movie was getting at, perhaps you need to be Japanese to really get it. I think it had something to with how the insularity of Japanese society was destroying them, but I could be way off. Overall, I liked it — the avant-garde score and interesting visual tableaus helped get through the early parts. Better than In the Realm of the Senses, at least. Rating: 7
