Venice. Inju, the Beast in the Shadow.

"Inju, the Beast in the Shadow is a bold but arguably misguided affair," writes Geoffrey Macnab for the Guardian. "Adapted from a novel by Edogawa Rampo (the Edgar Allan Poe of Japanese literature), it is pitched somewhere between a B-thriller and Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses. Corny plot twists, transgressive sex and self-reflexive asides about cinema sit side by side. Many in Venice found it preposterous and it was given a rough ride by the volatile Italian press. Nonetheless, there is one level on which it was beyond criticism. [Director Barbet] Schroeder is adamant that he has represented geisha culture (or, as the Japanese prefer to call it, 'geiko' culture) in a way that no Japanese audience can find fault with."

Updated through 9/5.

"Oral, written and visual storytelling traditions converge in Inju, The Beast In The Shadow, a duel of wits between two successful novelists - one a media staple, the other a recluse - and the geisha girl with a connection to both men," writes Lisa Nesselson in Screen Daily. "Along with Roman Polanski's Frantic, Barbet Schroeder's tale of obsession and manipulation fits snugly into the niche of jetlag thrillers in which a nice foreigner gets swept up in potentially lethal complications that never let up, generating their own momentum and logic."

"[T]he film promises much more than it ultimately delivers," finds Deborah Young in the Hollywood Reporter. "Commercial prospects will rest on the imaginatively recreated Kyoto atmosphere and vivid characters, not least a beautiful geisha into S&M."

Update: Shane Danielsen at indieWIRE: "The sheer, transfixing, car-crash horror of it held me for 40 minutes; thereafter I bolted for the exit. Astonishingly, I was assured by the handful of friends who stayed, that it became much, much worse."

Update, 9/5: "Aiming for some of the sensual sadomasochism of his 1975 shocker Maitresse, [Schroeder] settles for a toe-sucking scene that earned unintended laughs at the critics' screening," notes Time's Richard Corliss.

Posted by dwhudson at September 1, 2008 11:44 AM