a review of 妖怪比留子

𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖕𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖝 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖋𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: A surprisingly wacky romp considering the tone of Tsukamoto's other better-known films. According to a pair of interviews in the bonus features (recorded a couple of decades apart), Tsukamoto makes the claim that this was closer to his personal filmmaking style at the time than either TETSUO or TETSUO II, which makes sense in hindsight. The structure of the film, relying mostly on a single location and nearby exteriors, as well as a fairly minimal cast who are rarely all together in the same place, lends itself well to the kinds of no-budget genre exercises that Tsukamoto made before breaking through on TETSUO. This is not to say that Tsukamoto's trademark surreal creativity isn't on display, there's several moments and images, like the missing girl's face singing softly in the darkness, or her mysterious watery ascension (a moment Tsukamoto gleefully admits to ripping off from THE ABYSS) at the end of the film, that stand up against anything else from his filmography.