(The Mystery of) Rampo

I don't think I am this film's target audience. I've never read any of the works of the real Rampo, so I am sure I am missing some fanboy joy over references, characters, scenarios and themes. That said, I found Rampo to be interesting, but not entirely engaging, and ultimately not super enjoyable.

The film is visually sumptuous, but also rather incoherent. It's as if someone gave a first year film student and a huge budget. There's some anime, some newsreel footage, some pseudo-30's pulp adventure, some erotic thriller, some 60's adventure with mediocre green screen, and some highly questionable negative and color work. It's all very evocative and moody, but I couldn't stop wondering if I was missing some cultural information that gave it meaning.

Story-wise... well, this isn't really a film with a story. Famous author discovers that his stories are coming true is the elevator pitch, but the film doesn't seem terribly interested in exploring the existential issues that concept raises. It's actually handled rather clumsily, with Rampo's assistant out and out telling him "hey, your stories are so powerful, they are coming true. You should deal with that."

The redeeming aspect of this is that there is a periodic narrator, clearly intended to be that or Rampo, commenting on the actions and experiences of the film version of Rampo and the doubly fictional Rampo stand in. Thus, the entire film excuses itself from any attempt to restrict it to things like logic or realism. The film is not about a real author discovering that his fictional works are becoming real, but a film about an invisible author and his own obsession with his work and his fictional world. Of course, the fact that Rampo died in the mid 60's makes this a bit less poignant. So, really it's about a fan of Rampo's pretending to be an his literary idol and role playing that idol's presumed obsession with ... well, you get the idea.

This gets me back to my initial impression. This is the work of a fan-boy, first-year film student with a large budget... and as a cursory online check indicates, it is the directoral debut of an established producer.

This doesn't change the fact that this was a smash hit in Japan when it came out. Not a mild success... a HUGE hit.

I think that ultimately, American audiences (such as myself) are lacking some important cultural context. Audiences that grew up reading Rampo's stories and watching Japanese television and film are seeing something here that I'm simply not.