Chaos

Complex and beautiful.
Chaos (Hideo Nakata, 2001)

Hideo Nakata, by far best-known in the west for the ultra-smash hit film Ringu, departs from the horror films that have paid his way for the past few years and delves into the straight mystery. It probably helps that the same production team who produced one of Japan's finest mystery films, Cure, was in on this one as well.

Komiyama (Ken Mitsuishi of Malick's The Thin Red Line), an executive at a generic company, has lunch with his wife Saori (Miki Nakatani, seen recently in Ringu). She disappears while he's paying the bill. He goes back to the office to a telephone call from someone (Masato Hagiwara, the Hannibal Lecter-like villain of Cure) saying his wife has been kidnapped. To say things go wrong from that point on, both for Komiyana and the kidnapper, would be an understatement.

While the trailer reveals far more than this, best to leave it there. The plot spoilers start less than fifteen minutes into the movie, and you're best off going into it...

Brilliant--once you understand it
Great movie about love and deception, but confusing the first time around. The story is not told in chronological order, and to add to the confusion there are the similar-sounding names of two characters, (Saori and Satomi) names that are unfamiliar to Western ears and some characters who were only on screen for a short while. I won't give away the plot, but when you finally realize what's going on, it's brilliant! I had to watch Chaos more than once to get the full picture, buy it was well worth it!

great oriental thriller...
a sexy, mind bending thriller-a film that starts out pretty straight forward and then throws you 360 degrees.

Fairly tame as to the sex and violence compared to American thrillers, but that, IMO, makes the film more enjoyable-you need to use your brain instead of being clubbed in the head with gratatious imagery. You'll need to pay attention to this one if you hope to keep up.

A surprising ending but one appropriate for a Japanese film-known for their moralizing undertones. A enjoyable, thought provoking movie. 4 stars.

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