Review for Kankuro Kudo's 'Yaji & Kita : Midnight Pilgrims'.

My turn to see and review Kankuro Kudo's Directorial debut, a film I stumbled across a trailer of a long time ago now, one which has been stuck in my imagination ever since then... and yes, it's as weird (if not more so) than it looked back then. Don't less this pass you buy if you like weird films, there's plenty of much lesser films than this that are absolute favorites of many Japanese Cinema fans who post their thoughts online; yes, this suffered from an unfortunate delay in release, but now it's here, and it's very good.

Couple of things initially on my mind here. One is the growing impression I have that the lazy marketing and generalisation of films coming out of Japan over recent years, whether old or new, is backfiring not only on the companies profits but on the fans quality of viewing. Where does the responsibility lie though? Somewhere between the hands of the companies and those of the fans, in truth it's no one entity necessarily. What has happened, well some people are very well trained to react to those generalisation, and they're beginning to suffer from that over-simplification of the content and have started to think in those terms themselves to their own detriment as well as those around them hearing their opinions. The companies, although not the best at keeping up with growing trends or the general demands, can have moments of inspiration which go amiss, and I've seen some cracking films disappear without much of a general fuss or discussion.

Here comes one such unlikely inspired choice then, a much smarter, less-generic choice of film. Kankuro Kudo, first-time Director here for 'Yaji X Kita' (as originally known in Japan) is the writer behind some of the key cornerstones of recent weirdness out of Japan - 'Go', 'Ping Pong' and 'Zebraman' (to name but a few) are well known as being from his imagination, and have been hits with a large majority of the fans of Japanese Cinema. Based upon Kotobuki Shiriagari's manga of a similar (or identical) title, Yaji (the typically handsome one, dark-hared and chiseled features) and Kita (the blond, very odd-looking one) are the gay lovers at the centre of the story.

Kita, although an open fan (reliant upon, and very affected by them too...) of halluienogenic drugs (blue and white capsules - nothing too specific), and Yaji, both suffer from a lack of clarity when it comes to differentiating between fantasy and reality. Living in a town apparently named after the Edo period, the time within which we are familiar with seeing Samurai films set (ended late 19th Century), there's an broad all-invasive atmosphere that intends to do to the viewer what Yaji and Kita themselves seem to be experiencing. The quickly-expressed mood is one between film and reality, Edo sequences initially shot entirely as though they're stuck in a time-warp - in Black & White - but it's a world where motorbikes mix with classic dress very comfortably.

In search of their own reality then, Yaji and Kita jump on their bike and head off to Ise, a town in the distance which is expressed as a form of nirvana, a retreat suited to each individual as though it were their own, in order to cure Kita's drug addiction and mend the difficulties in their relationship. Each part of the journey (and remember, the journey's always more important than the destination) brings a new location and breaks the story down into a sequence of progress in their understanding of the world around them and each others pros & cons. There's a whole heap of cameo appearances, some very familiar and some very obscure - Riki Takeuchi (V-Cinemas' own God of the Yakuza as an actor), and Horror Manga artist / writer Kazuo Umezzu (as in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's recent TV film 'House of Bugs', based on one of his works) for example - as well as some small parts for equally obscure and familiar faces (the charming Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, the baby-like comedian as seen in 'Survive Style 5+' and 'Kamikaze Girls') too.

Yes, it's a comedy at its' heart, and it's also fitting to another of my fetishes (road movies) as well as being absolutely off its' tits from start to finish, it mashes genres so thick and fast it's hard to pigeon-hole this quality piece of absurd cinema. Far from being entirely disorienting and ungraspable, the story is perhaps best described as fitting most Westerners' preconceptions about the wacky nature of TV in Japan - it's vibrantly colored, quick, cheeky, unashamedly populare but subversive, full of eye candy, easy to watch, full of odd songs, strange characters, and perhaps strongest of all it's ironically using these elements as a swipe at such generic creativity, the disorienting, dizzying pace that perhaps clouds-out a sense of reality all too effectively.

Like some of the recent films mentioned here, Kudo's work (or other peoples' work), but ramped-up as many more notches as you care to mention (I dare not openly say "turned up to 11", but you get the idea), the film's certainly one of the truly weird films I've every experienced in all possible department. Not just out of a very individual way of thinking, but born of a great sense of observation of popular culture and a very deep understanding of both it's great value as entertainment and the darker sides of it too; very balanced and never obviously biased to my eye. Mixed into a greatly varied tale, Kudo crafts a true narrative about these two individuals, and drags us into both caring for them individually and as a couple, also asking us to grow or question our own understanding of relationships and reality. Very touching, very funny, but very very strange - no bad thing.

There's a downfall though, the weak side of the choice in film and how it's unfortunately presented by Media Blasters for its' delayed American release. The cultural references in the film are so deep, so 'in the know' that it steps past all easily-grasped knowledge and to the side of those things easily deciphered open to even the most ardent and regular fans of Japanese Culture. It blocks out the scripted humor of the film for most of the film, but occasionally it's still easy to get the visual jokes and the odd things less reliant on cultural references, and I found myself doubting how well many would react to a film that is more intentionally for a Japanese audience than anything I've yet seen. Now, although I congratulate Media Blasters on this superb choice (and I hope they manage more choices like this one in the future), and although I think there's still an incredible experience there to be had for anyone who hopefully buys the film, I would liked to have seen a series of footnotes or perhaps an additional subtitle track for 'the hard of thinking' as I call it to myself in my head - like AnimEigo's cultural footnotes on the 'Lone Wolf and Cub' DVDs which can either be dialogue-only or give you any necessary background snippets along the way in order to clarify what's happening. I think though, that over time this is one film all can come back to again and again to discover more about, as it's less ephemeral perhaps that it might initially appear.

Don't let it put you off though, Kudo's film is a very rich, layered, rewarding, touching story that would easily become a cult classic in any film fans circles - if you can penetrate enough of what's going on to any great extent - and there's so much going on, so much creativity, well expressed and very solidly Directed, that if you tire of those films potentially pandering to genres, incidental foreign audiences, the possibility of a remake license and so on, then here's something you might have imagined you would see but will have never seen before. Easily a first-class presentation, despite unintentional faults to how we can understand the film, the range of extras offer lengthy and detailed essential viewing (a rarity on a DVD for me) which shows Kudo shooting the film, planning the score, discussing the ideas of the film and going on a road trip of his own (with Manga writer Kotobuki Shiriagari in tow) which were all initially prepared for a separate 'making of' DVD for Japan, and with a crisp transfer on the film, it's a film that won me over and I hope to see many people find enough faith in the possibilities of in order to track it down and at least give it a try. A very memorable, fun experience.