NYAFF 09 Review: K-20 LEGEND OF THE MASK (Review Two)

[Our thanks to Renzo Adler for this second review of K-20.]

The reverberations of the modern superhero film have been felt since Spider-Man graced screens back in ’02, for better or worse. K-20: Legend of the Mask, directed by Shimako Sato, based on the novel by So Kitamura—which was in turn based on a series of detective stories by Edogawa Rampo—embodies some of the worst aspects of contemporary superhero films. What originally drew me to this film was the fact that it was based on a character created by Edogawa Rampo, an author renowned for his “erotic-grotesque” style which has spawned numerous films like Horrors of Malformed Men and Rampo Noir. So I was expecting yet another film filled to the brim with strangeness and brooding eroticism. Instead I got an extremely watered down superhero movie with a half-hearted steam-punk motif.

Set in an alternate past in which WWII never happened and Japan’s aristocracy controls every aspect of life, a master thief named K-20: The Fiend of 20 Faces is after a device of massive destructive power (built by Nikola Tesla, so you KNOW it’s steam punk). All the while he is being chased by Detective Kogoro. Caught in the middle of this is a handsome circus performer that is framed as K-20. Despite being a movie about a thief, it quickly becomes a mish mash of Spider-Man with some detective story elements and lackluster action scenes. Characters are often cliché and fall into embarrassing archetypes (the thief with a heart of gold, the naïve but well meaning rich girl, her asshole boyfriend). The visual style is surprisingly bland and feels more like a bad sentai show. At times, this is even more surprising considering the visual vibrancy of other films based on Rampo’s works. I was truly expecting K-20 to offer something exciting and new and I got neither.

Review by Renzo Adler.