:
Koji Yakusho,
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi,
Ren Osugi,
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:
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
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: Homevision
: Drama, Foreign, Japan
: 104 min.
: Japanese
: English
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Idiosyncratic auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed this bizarre allegorical tale about a tree named Charisma. Goro Yabuike (Koji Yakusho) is a burned-out hostage negotiator called to rescue an MP from a gun-toting lunatic demanding that "rule of the world" be restored. In a moment of indecision, he fails to act; as a result, both the MP and the lunatic die, while Yabuike is sent on a forced vacation to an unnamed forest area. There he comes upon a single tree surrounded by an I.V. pole, metal supports, and strange altar-like objects. Yabuike soon discovers that the locals are enmeshed in a battle over the tree's future. The plant is staunchly, sometimes violently defended by Kiriyama (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), a young resident of an abandoned sanitarium who believes that Charisma is unique and should be preserved. On the other hand, Mitsuko (Jun Fubuki), a do-gooder botanist, credits the mysterious tree with poisoning its fellow plants and upsetting the eco-system. Other characters include thuggish lumberjacks and rapacious tree-hunters hoping to buy or steal the rare tree at any cost. As things come to a head, Yabuike is forced to make the sort of decisions of which he was incapable as a hostage negotiator. Is Charisma a force of evil or the victim of the obsessions of those around it? Is it the unique specimen that should be saved or the entire forest? Again Yabuike is flummoxed, but this time he acts before it is too late. This adventurous, psychedelic film explores many of the same themes of the individual's fate in modern society as Kurosawa's early work, Cure (1997). Charisma was screened in the "Directors Fortnight" section of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and as a part of the director's spotlight at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
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| Tree-Time
by talltale
June 4, 2005 - 2:31 PM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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As bad as is his recently released-to-DVD "Séance," CHARISMA is equally good--strange but consistently interesting, as its plot expands to include everything from cops handling hostage negotiations to alien greenery, the environment at large and the apocalypse. Writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and star Koji Yakusho work together often and form another winning team here (Yakusho--appearing in everything from "Shall We Dance" to "Cure"--is clearly today's Japanese "Everyman").
While this film undoubtedly means more to the Nipponese than to outsiders, even with little cultural background, the themes Kurosawa offers resonate strongly and should hold your interest. Don't expect an easily wrapped up finale, however (or an easily understood beginning or middle, for that matter). With certain movies, confusion and doubt can scare and unsettle you more than surety and resolution can guarantee. "Charisma" is one of these. |
| Psychedelic indeed
by mason
April 7, 2005 - 1:19 PM PDT
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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This is one of my favorite films by (this) Kurosawa. I was fortunate to see it at the SF Int'l Film Festival, and had to hunt to find it as a foreign DVD. I'm happy to see that it has been more widely released, so a larger number of people can see it.
Don't expect a straightforward story, by any means, from Charisma. In fact, after watching it the first time you may remain confused -- it's worth seeing again. It's full of surprises, and explaining much more than the capsule description would give too much away. The characters initially seem inexplicable, but in fact there's a dreamlike consistency to the film that, for me, works perfectly. Very worthwhile if you don't demand that a movie spell everything out for you. |
| Not at all what I'd expected. . . .
by ABetterton
November 24, 2003 - 8:46 PM PST
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6 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| Somehow I'd gotten the idea that Charisma would be another creepy thriller/horror movie along the lines of Cure or Kairo (aka Pulse). Perhaps it was the cover art or the fact that the actor Koji Yakusho plays a police detective, as he did in Cure. But actually Charisma is more akin to a contemporaneous film by Shohei Imamura, Warm Water under a Red Bridge, than to the horror films with which Kurosawa is otherwise associated. Both Charisma and Warm Water deal with a loner at loose ends who finds himself stranded among a small community of eccentrics in an out-of-the-way locale. This is, of course, one of the basic narrative situations of the indie comedy, found in everything from Local Hero to Northern Exposure. And, yes, Charisma is a comedy of sorts, though you aren't likely to laugh out loud. It aims for something more like detached bemusement combined with a thoughtful consideration of a Big Metaphor (sort of like a Hal Hartley comedy, but not as witty or shallow). The metaphorical/allegorical element is provided by the conflict over an unusual tree that seems to be killing the surrounding forest. Through different characters' perceptions of the tree, the film examines the meaning of the unique and individual in relation to a broader system. While there are a number of Kurosawa films that I haven't yet seen, the treatment of the issue of singularity in Charisma leads me to imagine that it is probably his most pointedly philosophical work. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.78)
59 Votes
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