KICHIKU

A group of revolting leftist students with great trust in their leader lose their foothold when he commits hara-kiri. The dead leaders girlfriend, Masami, takes charge and puts the group through several sadistic and brutal acts of revenge.
Masami fights with the same physical intensity as she loves. Violence turns her on. Her bursts of giggle awakens strong feel ings of discomfort - never before has a woman's laughter been so gut wrenching. Why does she act the way she does? Is part of a rash coming to terms with the suicide of her boyfriend? Does she lose her touch with reality, or was this violent drive always inside her? The film brings
up many questions. How strong is friendship? How important is power? How much of our behavior is governed by fear?
At first everything is normal. The friend eat together, they play the guitar, talk on the phone and hang out. After a party with animalistic elements the story takes a turn. I nsanity takes over, with abuse of power, acts of insanity and hysteric outbursts. It becomes horrible. But right at the point when it has gone so far that one wonders how much more one can take, the screen fills with symbolism. Masami paints her face white and her lips red.
Wearing a dark kimono she dances as
if she were obsessed and her face shines together with the Japanese flag, here stained with blood. I try to pull the unspeakable acts of sadism together into
a red thread of cultural history, a thread that becomes my own salvation, a life raft to hold on to so I don't drown in disgust and the incomprehensible. I am searching for explanations, so that I can endure the inhuman behavior on the screen.
The director claims to not have put any symbolism what-so-ever into the film. According to him, Kichilw dai enkai,
is not a political statement, an attack against the generation of the parents,
nor is it a film made to provoke.
LINDA HEDIHN

Premiärstatus
Svensk premiär: Orig. titel
KICHIKU DAI ENKAI: Medverkande
Sumiko Mikami,Shunsuke Sawada,Shigeru Bokuda: Producent
Kazyuyoshi KUMAKIRI: Manus
Kazyuyoshi KUMAKIRI: Foto
Kiyoaki Hashimoto: Musik
Akainu: Talat språk
Japanese