Event

RAIGYO

Dir. Takahisa Zeze, 1997
Japan. 75 mins.
In Japanese with English subtitles.

A mysterious woman in black a payphone a murder seemingly without cause. Director Zeze Takahisa is known as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Pink, and it certainly shows in this surreal and enigmatic film. An incredibly opaque but nonetheless beautifully filmed Pink, RAIGYO perplexes and intrigues. Allegedly based on a true story, and set in 1988, Raigyo depicts three characters: a woman with an unnamed, terrible illness, a fisherman, and a lecherous man who sleeps around while his wife is heavily pregnant. The symbolic title refers to a fish that restaurants generally dont sell because it is known to carry worms thus signifying the corruption of the main characters.

Although it is also known by its title THE WOMAN IN THE BLACK UNDERWEAR, Takahisas film is more art film than sexploitation. The pace is as oneiric as the plot, and the audience is drawn deeper into the web crafted by Zezes quiet, understated, and eerie masterpiece.