Pornostar (1998)
Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda
Starring: Koji Chihara, Onimaru
Genre: Yakuza/Drama
Running Time: 98mins

Rating:

A nameless businessman (Tomoroh Taguchi) and his wife dump the body of a hit and run victim in forestry. The victim had just performed a brutal act of self mutilation by inserting a steel bar into his thigh. The following morning, as the businessman shaves he spots a small metallic rupture on his face, later that day he is pursued by a woman possessed by the metallic embodiment of the hit and run victims vengeful spirit. What follows is a dizzying spectacle of mutation and destruction not just of the businessman and his deranged sexual lifestyle but also that of the industrial city that surrounds him.

After watching Nine Souls, revisiting Pornostar is akin to watching Scorsese's Mean Streets after Goodfellas. While there is undoubtedly an incredible growth in Toyoda's maturity as a director since his debut film, it doesn't stop Pornostar from being quite frankly one of the most exhilarating, raw experiences of recent extreme asian cinema.

With its nihilistic protagonist staggering and hacking his way through nefarious characters supported by a jaw droppingly cool soundtrack this care-free character influences the care-free approach to the narrative structure of the film as we join a man in a free-fall from society and responsibility, with the end of his journey ultimately leading towards self-destruction his main thrust for survival comes from his desire to take out as much of what he hates about the world with him.

In this case, the Yakuza.

Central to the films success, aside from the assured direction and indelible style of Toyoda, is the performance by Koji Chihara as Arano (seen later as part of an ensemble cast in Toyoda's masterpiece Nine Souls), here he somehow imbues this soulless outcast of very little dialogue with a degree of charisma, not in the way of an OTT performance but in the subtleties of mannerisms and physical gestures. Never over-selling just keeping the levels of interest high enough he engage the audience commanding the screen despite his disinterested presence. His motives are both simple and complex depending on how you wish to read his character - his hatred of useless people (in general? Or more specific - after all it is just the Yakuza who fall foul to his hatred), it's just a shame that the other character of considerable stature (Onimaru's young Yakuza underling Kamijo) is given such a simple background story, as it betrays the film somewhat by appealing all to easily to its audience.

Aside from the inclusion of the two worst English speaking actors I've seen (and I'm even making comparisons to the bellhop in "Brother") it's the only mis-step of the film that incorporates a fiercely realistic stabbing sequence that will leave you breathless, one of the coolest assassins of late, and the most bizarre drug taking scene I've ever seen.

The feel of Pornostar as aforementioned, is particularly rough - the violence is portrayed realistically in a cinema verite style that reminded me a lot of the upfront brutality of Nicolas Windn Refn's "Pusher". Yet, Toyoda combines with this rough-edged visual approach moments of surreal beauty that compliments the realism of earlier scenes while also offering a window into the protagonist's inner-workings. One such scene where Arano imagines a sudden rainfall as a hail of falling knives is both a stroke of genius as well as a terrifying insight into the fractured mind of our psychopathic tour guide. It's moments like these that work to thrust Pornostar up above the generic Yakuza/Vigilante films and make it something of great value.

Pornostar bristles with the energy of a young director hungry for success doing, it's a blistering debut that makes me feel like re-visiting his other works, it's a truly excellent film that signposted Toyoda as a director to watch. And with Blue Spring and Nine Souls currently available he is now a director to follow.