The only way I can describe this film, which is based on the legend of the titular character and was directed by Masashiro Shinoda (who had previously given us the LB favorite Pale Flower), is as an assault on the senses. The film's staged-looking production design lends it a theatrical quality, heightening the surreal nature of the whole thing; the palace's big white columns, empty spaces, and plenty of dark corners provide a striking contrast to the film's colorful costumes and makeup, particularly Himiko's striking red dress. The staging work here is very impressive, with minor details like the dude who wraps a long robe around the victims and who knows what will happen next, but their throats will not…

Cupcake Curated Cinema - #6

Masahiro Shinoda's Himiko is a stunner; a myth's reimagining that is unique and otherworldly in its staging, imagery and design and is quite unlike anything I have seen (the comparisons to The Holy Mountain I've seen for it fall on deaf ears for me as I have not put eyes on that one just yet). The theatricality at play could be quite off-putting for some, but I found it to play into the minimalistic design, the experimental/dissonant score that is as much its own lived in world as the film itself, and its striking tableau photography that I could swear dilated my pupils several times over.

To say we are dropped into this world and…

Violations of humanity haunt us from without and within, leading to where we are now, this present, with a past marked by pursuit of power or fortune or just plain pettiness. Ever since we first attained consciousness, we have done little but partake in paltry feuds and play dirty politics under the guise of spirituality when really what they signify are our collective shortcomings as a species, the same as any other, but an animal kingdom is no dominion; no creature animate without avarice nor province without scourge. How many have paid the highest price for these frailties throughout time? And why, as their lives vaporize, do we enshrine them in this manner that immortalizes them despite being the ones who…

"You will become the god. Himiko is the god."

Curated Cupcake Cinema #6

One of my favorite films seen during this past Spooky Season was Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees, so of course I vowed to travel further into the cinematic worlds of Masahiro Shinoda in the new year. And Himiko was a fascinating next place to turn! In similar fashion, the director crafts an utterly compelling vehicle for his wife, Shima Iwashita, to light up the screen with her magnetic performance and eyes so hypnotizing that you can't look away. (Gonna go out on a limb and assume that her performance in Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon - which I'm sure is wonderful - is a lot less... well, everything.…

Inspired by an ancient Japanese legend, Himiko is a splendid movie, that charms its viewers with its endearing visuals and provokes their thoughts with a thematically complex story about the way powerful women are seen by men.

Himiko is stylistically perfect, the symmetric shots are beautifully framed in an almost theatric way, enhanced by the equally theatrical and dramatic dialogues, that convey the feeling of watching something real, rather than just fantasy. The contrast between white and red established since the very beginning is prophetic when related to the story, the white balance disrupted by red passion, ending, as it can be expected, in death. The costumes and sets have a clear influence on later Kurosawa's works (Ran, Dreams) and…

I was going to liken Himiko to Horrors of Malformed Men and The Holy Mountain but one of the top reviews for the film already makes those comparisons. So, instead, I will liken it to The Ballad of Narayama (1983) and The Boxer's Omen. Mind you, Himiko is about a decade older than both of these films, and I am only making comparisons because it is so astonishing that I feel bereft of words. Referencing those four films should give you a good idea of what you would be getting into here, but I will try to discuss this mammoth piece of art a little more thoughtfully and not just take the easy way out.

Masahiro Shinoda takes us on…

A fable of the ethereal, the absurd, and the lustful.
Boiling religion down to only the most captivating and sensual, Shinoda presents the Shinto mythology with the ostentatious painting of a Midnight Movie.

What lies within this film is cryptic and obtuse, not wholly indecipherable, but ultimately illusive.
The great august kami who shines in Heaven is portrayed through means similar to Macbeth, with betrayal and treachery proudly displaying their colours, as the iconoclast and incestuous writhe beneath the surface. Sheathe taints the family sword, kith and kin lie with Holy veils, and history repeats itself; Amaterasu, Ouroboros becomes you.

"Himiko" is easy on the eyes. Art director Kiyoshi Awazu manufactures immersive set designs, completely peerless, and through fluid cooperation…

Curated Cupcake Cinema #6

Masahiro Shinoda's Himiko is a strange and haunting experience. Filled with bizarre and sometimes grotesque imagery. A seriously odd film (I've seen multiple LB reviewers refer to it as a Japanese The Holy Mountain, an apt comparison I think). It's a mythical story of an ancient, almost otherworldly Japan, where people exist in separate primitive tribes. Each tribe has its own god: the sun god, the mountain god, the land god. And with each god, a shaman to speak for them. 

Not having much understanding of the cultural and historical context, I struggled to find my footing at first. But certain recognizable themes as old as time began to emerge. We see men who plot and…

The destructive love of politics and cult. Loyalty lies in a constant state of transition; people scheming their way to make their own visions of utopia come to life. Inevitably, visions clash and humans die.

On every level and by every significant piece of the puzzle, power is abused to leave people scarred, banished, replaced, tortured, or dead. So long as their vision comes to life, lives lost isn't a matter of concern.

Betrayal follows once a man decides if a woman is worthy of speaking to God anymore; shaman succeeds shaman. Swords clash for the right to rule a kingdom where the cult of religion is above every subject save for the one who sits on the throne; king…