Social Disservices: The Demon

It is 1978 and the middle of a heat wave in Japan. Kikoyo (Mayumi Ogawa) is at her wits end with her three children. Gathering the kids up, they take a train to visit the children's father. Sokichi (Ken Ogata) is running a printing business with is current wife Oume (Shima Iwashita) who has until now had no knowledge of his lover, let alone his brood. No longer able to support Kikoyo and the children, Sokichi has simply cut off contact with them. Now, Kikuyo insists, they are his problem.

She leaves the three children with Sokicho and the none to happy Oume. Oume is already in a bad state. Her previous print shop having burnt down, they are now operating with a bare minimum of equipment. They also are having a hard time competing with other printers' prices and can hardly keep their business alive. One bad print job can mean the loss of an important client. The last thing the household needs is three more mouths to feed. Sokichu tries to get a new loan from the bank, but even though he is friends with the loan officer, he is turned down.

When the youngest child, just a baby, falls ill, Sokichu can barely afford to take him to the doctor. The baby is not eating properly and is not doing well. As pained as he is by his child's sickness, Sokichu can't help but think that he was better off without the before Kikuyo's visit. And Oume is all to willing to Lady-Macbeth him along

First time viewers are better off not knowing much more. Though marketed as a mystery due to being based on a story by noted Japanese novelist Seicho Matsumoto, Yoshitaro Nomura's The Demon (1978) is much more of a social drama, albeit a quite difficult one. There are numerous scenes that make for tough viewing, but the film is all the more rewarding for not pulling any punches in dealing with its issues and especially Ken Ogata's complex character. Sokichu is the demon of the title (as Patrick Macias's liner notes point out, "kichiku" can be translated as "demon" but also as "brute" or "subhuman" to give an idea of where Nomura and Matsumoto are coming from here) but he is also a compelling narrative lead. Depsite his horrible acts, he retains the faintest glimmer of sympathy and that is what makes The Demon the troubling experience that it is. Sokichu is ill-equipped to deal with both parenthood and his crumbling business, but put the two together and his desperation gets the better of him. Ogata's performance is obviously key to getting this across, and he does so brilliantly. He seems at any given time that he might completely break down and curl up into a ball, willing the world away.There is a scene in the film where he takes his daughter on a trip to Tokyo Tower. There is a shot of Ogata on the elevator that perfectly sums up what is character is about, as panic, self-disgust, and heartbreak all simultaneously wash over his face.

Working with the same cinematographer and composer as he did on Zero Focus, Nomura has created a film that is the stylistic flipside of that 1961 film. (It is interesting to note that the initial set-up for The Demon is almost like looking at Zero Focus though a different angle of a prism, as both movies deal with men who hide their secret lives from their wives.) Takashi Kawamata shoots the summertime set film in a flat 1.85 ratio instead of scope and the closer confines of the frame greatly increase the sense of close quarters and high emotions. Yasushi Akutagawa's score, while largely string based, has a frequent recurring motif os a child's music box that lends the movie a fable like quality at times as well as conveying the presence of the children. The music box is even used to a Poe-like effect in one scene as it becomes apparent that its tune is actually emitting from the film proper, not just as part of the score.

Home Vision Entertainment's disc is exemplary all around. The picture has that great '70s film stock texture to it and the mono sound is crisp and clear. No extras apart from Ogata and Nomura filmographies (and a trailer for HVE's Zatoichi series), but high marks for just releasing a film that most people in the U.S. have likely never heard of, let alone had the chance to see.