Cherries Were Made for Eating

From the "we didn't see this coming" department: Nobuhiko Obayashi's astonishing debut film HOUSE, one of the lost jewels of the Toho school of '77, will be airing twice this weekend w/ subs on the Independent Film Channel for the very first time. I think you should probably watch it. Links to the showtimes here.

I dug up the review that appeared in issue 15 of the Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (1983) by Greg Shoemaker which I still think does the best job of trying to get to the bottom of the immense "what-the-fuck" quality that pervades every barking mad hook and crook of HOUSE.

"Formerly a director of television commercials, Obayahshi in his first film assignment, led seven young women on summer holiday to a mansion where the guests disappear one by one via living, devouring, home furnishings."

"Many points of the production are striking: an actress with a slow, exaggerated stride, her hair and scarf blown about by a breeze which affects no one but her; mass produced food names used as nicknames for several of the victims; the coordination of color between the costumes of the players and the definitely unnatural pastel tinted environment."

"In viewing these moments and others, Bail in Variety offers the possibility that HOUSE might be Obayashi's indictment of the excesses of Japanese commercialization. The director's tack is to draw attention to his cleverness, but is he kidding? Is the dialog banal purposely like so much ad copy? Is the intrusive music performed by the pop rock group Godiego calculated or accidental? Obayashi's debut is a puzzling one to which Bail adds, 'Obayashi is either a brilliant conscious satirist or a brilliant unconscious satirist.'"

Comments

[Joseph Luster]

Thanks for the heads up, I'm DVRing this bad boy!

[Joseph Luster]

Man, too bad it was midnight and 3am today... shit. I wonder when they're playing it next.

[Patrick Macias]

Awesome how useless this post is being a day late and everything.

[Joseph Luster]

I don't know, the poster with the cat is never useless.

[lardyrevenger]

Hey! I rented that from Japan Video and NEVER GAVE IT BACK! That was like 10 years ago, I still have it. Do you think they'd want it back? Even though it's VHS? It's the one thing, the only thing, I've ever felt guilty about in my life.

[Joseph Luster]

The ONLY thing?

[wildarmsheero]

Jesus Christ, what's the late fee on that?

[Gilles Poitras]

If you are talking Japan Video in San Francisco they no longer do rentals so they probably don't want it back. You could drop by and see what Tak wants for the tape that you have and buy it from him. They still have some old rental tapes and discs for sale.

[Patrick Macias]

It was from People, but it was only a copy, not a pre-record, so I don't think the Lardy One is going to hell...at least not for this!

However, the guys at Japan Video hate me for some odd reason I can't remember probably revolving around "lifetime memberships" and or late fees.

And on that front, I just got the news from Alt that Kimono My House is about to keel over come Jan.

[Seiya]

Damn, picked a hell of a time to move to the bay area.

Any word on when/if they'll have some sort of big clearance sale?

[Steve Harrison]

I'm surprised Kimono My House has stayed in business this long, actually...

When Matt posts this in his blog I'll probably rant over there and earn the etarnal hatred of a few more toy geeks with harsh, harsh truth.

[hillsy]

I believe that Yuki is just closing the brick and mortar, and going to be online only. Sjoen is trying to set up a bbq bash on the roof for closing weekend.

[Steve Harrison]

well, the existing KMH site has been useless for years, I wouldn't have much faith in them going online only, unless that means they're putting everything up on eBay with insane minimum bids.

Which means items won't sell.

Shutting down the storefront sure didn't help Outer Limits much, did it?

*sigh*

[Matt Alt]

I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but Kichijoji's last bastion of old-school model building, the hobby shop Wave Be-J, shut down a few months back as well. Their New Years' clearance sales used to be epic. What's the world coming to?

[Patrick Macias]

I was listening to my usual conspiracy podcast twaddle when the man said, "a lot of major chain stores will be closing, but it will also create new opportunities for entrepreneurs." Let's hope that extends to the overpriced Japanese toy racket.

On the other hand, don't we always just go to Yodobashi now, and even then usually buy nothing in the toy dept?

[Matt Alt]

Yodobashi's got game when it comes to price and selection, but the harsh fluorescent lighting and antiseptic displays make it feel like visiting Robert Duvall's apartment in THX-1138. I just can't get excited about buying toys unless there's a thick layer of dust covering everything and the smell of disintegrating cardboard in the air.

[Patrick Macias]

I liked the build-up models at Wave: the Star Wars dioramas and picture perfect Gundams. I guess you're right. The world will be very much diminished by their absence. I really tripped out on Kichijoji the last time I was there. With the roof torn off the west wing of the Sunroad and the departure of Denny's, I'm wondering how much longer Shakey's can remain powerful.

[Matt Alt]

Well, there's one ray of sunshine, anyway: construction is coming along nicely and by the time you're back, the roof over the northwestern branch of Sunroad should be rebuilt.... Unless the rebels take out the shield generator first.

[Matt Gray]

Wow! I just watched the version of Hansu posted on youtube. Holy shit, what a wild movie! The colors of the "special effects" are nuts! And THAT CAT....

I'd never heard of this one before...thanks for pointing it out Pat!

[Patrick Macias]

I remember a similar beast inhabiting the Gray household via 1980 or thereabouts!

[Matt Gray]

Yeah, perhaps that helps explain some of the weirdo shit that went down in the Gray house in the early 80s!

[Patrick Macias]

Until now, I only suspected Tony Laverman (sic?) or Brian Lee.

[Aceface]

Check out the undeaged Ikegami Kimiko's bathing sequence.I say Oobayashi is definitly a lolicon type.

[LardyRevenger]

I like the fat chick! I LIKE THE FAT CHICK! Until her head turns into a watermelon and then barfs out Kool-aid. I don't know why that turns me off. I guess I'm old fashioned.

[Patrick Macias]

I didn't see the version they played on TV scene, but I wouldn't be surprised if they killed the nude scene. Kimiko is like right on the fence on legal.

[hillsy]

Hey Alt...what was the toystore in Kichijoji you took us to with all the(Diaclone/Microman)? ToyCats Showcase?

[Patrick Macias]

I can never remember the name of that place either. It's near the HIPS fuzoku, the 1/20 scale Statue of Liberty, and the Star Pine's.

[hillsy]

Yeah, it's ToyCats Showcase. I figured that out becuase I've got a flipping picture of it in my flickr! Sigh...old age...the brain is the first to go (now thanks to Viagra)!

[Aceface]

Isn't that shop in the basement of the second hand furniture shop behind the public library?

Anyway,kinda funny that many of you talk about Kichijoji in detail.
Reminds me of the experience of watching "Harmagedon"(not the one with Aerosmith soudtrack but the one with Keith Emerson)in Scarsdale NY,back in 1983.I watched it in VHS rented in local Tokyo Shoten and surprise! There was good old Sunroad and Morimoto Hospital in the anime.Somehow the anime version had taken place in Kichijoji.(That's probably something to do with Otomo Katsuhiro who did all the character design had/has studio in Kichijoji.)So it was funny feeling being in New York and watching Macdonalds in Sunroad is being portrayed in anime.

[hillsy]

"Isn't that shop in the basement of the second hand furniture shop behind the public library?"

Wow...now that you mention it, there WAS what looked like a used furniture store next to it...with the entire staff, it seemed, outside for a smoke break at the same time.

[Jim Peavy]

Dang, dang, DANG! Meant to get my buddy with the satellite and a DVD recorder to get this for me but I forgot.

Anybody out there in cyber-land help me out with a DVD-R copy? I've got some stuff to trade. Let me know:

[email protected]

[Patrick Macias]

I read on MHVF that Janus / Criterion actually has the rights to this. Maybe a super cool DVD edition is forthcoming. There seems to be one already in Germany.