Mika Ninagawa’s Sakuran and her 2022 flick, xxxHolic – which is still on my agenda to watch in the hopefully not-too-distant future, gave me some requisite insight as to what to expect from her filmography going forward. Her knack for eye-catching photography and lensing melds well with her filmic ambition – a fact that sticks in fine fashion with her 2012 psychological body horror thriller, Helter Skelter, based on Kyoko Okazaki’s 1995 “Feel Young” Magazine manga publication from Shodensha.
Helter Skelter is a startling odyssey into the extent of how far Japan’s biggest supermodel would go to hold onto her beauty. Her name is Lilico (Erika Sawajiri), and the world of entertainment LOVES her. She’s a superstar on the big and small screen, and on the front page of every magazine that has young women fawning over her looks and glamour. The industry can’t get enough of her, and there isn’t a single room she can walk into that’s full of screaming and chanting fans adoring her top to bottom from the moment she enters to when she leaves. The only people who get to have time with her are the ones who feel the luckiest, including her assistant, Michiko, and beautician, Kinji (Hirofumi Arai), and her lover, Takao (Yosuke Kubozuka); the feeling is more mutual between her and her agent the woman she coins as her motherly figure, Hiroko (Kaori Momoi).
There’s just one problem with this stunning façade that Lilico maintains: Nearly none of it is real. Point in fact, the movie starts off with an opening sequence of edits that showcase Lilico unwrapping her body – the result of a large scale procedure done to keep her skin looking as ageless as possible on a regular basis. For perspective, you can count on just one hand the parts of her that haven’t been entirely replaced, including one organ she uses regularly for her own ends – whether it’s with Takao, or with industry gatekeepers to help advance her career.
Additionally, the bodywork is done as the result of a methodology practiced at a dicey facility that’s now under a slowly-but-surely cooking investigation by Prosecutor Makoto (Nao Omori) and his partner, Kumi (Anne Suzuki). This is a nearing certainty, especially as the days go by for Lilico who, whether she chooses to acknowledge it or not, knows deep in the echoing corners of her unraveling mind that that ticking sounds she hears only means that everyday is a race to live out her vanity and beat the clock, particularly as bruises and blemishes start appearing on her skin, shocking her to her core and drawing out her worst, most self-concious instincts.
Ninagawa’s directorial tambre takes hold in its stunning look at Lilico’s bustling world of fame, fortune, and Faustian upheaval. We meet Lilico at perhaps the lowest point of her life, amid an upscaling career in which behind the curtains, we’re shown a personality that’s less than savory. She cares only about her looks, and as the movie progresses, she becomes increasingly manipulative and controlling, using her sexuality and charm to get what she wants, including retribution if someone hurts her, or gets in the way of something (or someone) she wants.
Invariably, this aspect of Lilico’s behavior comes out of a desperate such for love, which she’s characterized as loyalty and adoration. There’s nothing genuine about it. Roping in Michiko to her own ends as a sexual partner is one major flashpoint in this process, as Lilico finds herself challenged with the arrival of Hiroko’s latest supermodeling prospect in Kozue (Kiko Mizuhara).
At the forefront of Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter is the clear and visually discernible and coloresque appeal that characteristically stands out of her work. Red is a common placeholder for much of the film’s optical overtones, speaking almost subliminally to the color’s various meanings as traits to our anti-heroic protagonist in Lilico, aside from the color’s staple in the film’s genre appeal. The only moment of violence and gore takes place in the film’s final act, which speaks mostly to the psychological brood of the story, which is what I loved the most about this film.
Screenwriter Arisa Kaneko makes ample work of Helter Skelter in its conceptual scope and potency, clocking Disney’s IP “Snow White”‘s unrepentantly antagonistic Evil Queen in Ninagawa’s combination with German folklore to tap into the film’s source material. Sawajiri’s performance in this film will rapture you, in addition to Shinobu Terajima whose transformation under Lilico’s stewardship takes on a chilling evolution, speaking to a lot of the film’s exploratory and subtextual messaging on boundaries and power dyamics. Omori lends respite and deep thought as Makoto in his exchanges with Kumi, and later emerges more prophetically by the time his character is ready to play his “trump card”.
Co-star Go Ayano chimes in as Shin, Michiko’s otherwise loving slacker boyfriend who, oddly enough, kind of just fades into the background after events play out; There’s no real outro or offramp for his character, but it contributes well to the film’s escalation in stakes when it comes to Lilico’s wily demeanor. One of the best performances of the film, interestingly, comes from Mizuhara whose Kozue foreshadows as Lilico’s more pragmatic and polar opposite, and if you haven’t seen this film yet, you’ll see why, and how. At least one actor makes a guest appearance in a small role as a producer Lilico sleeps with, and you’ll know who he is if you know V-Cinema; Because I didn’t research any going into this film, I didn’t expect to see him, and nor did I expect to see co-star Suzuki here, and I freaking LOVED her in Returner.
I’ve never read the manga, which is usually the case for me when it comes to these kinds of films. That said, don’t let that get in the way of your enjoyment here. Films like Helter Skelter are enthralling portraits and studies of the womens’ experiences and societal pressures, and consumerism, and I was simply mesmerized by it all. If you’re like me and diving into Helter Skelter for the first time, you’ll find yourself in otherwise thrilling company with a story that does wonders as a hyperrealistic genre hybrid that applies a bold, filmic approach in reverse-engineering children’s folklore, and presenting a whipsmart, standout profile of commercial beauty, what it entails, and its maddening effects on the mind. Butterflies and all.
Film journalists and essayists Amber T and Tori Potenza break all these and more down excellently in the film’s commentary track (you’ll find the former delivering her take on Ninagawa’s Sakuran as well). The disc also features archived interviews: In Ninagawa’s interview at six minutes or so, she talks about her experiences making the film and working with Sawajiri, and even mentions at one point she wanted her actress to wear a red dress to one of the film’s screenings. In Sawajiri’s interview at about five minutes, she talks about making the film and her experience playing the role of Lilico, and you kind of get the sense of relief when she talks at one point about letting go of the role.
The 88 Films disc continues with a behind the scenes production journal at roughly twelve minutes, followed by several cast/crew screening featurettes of the film’s Japan premiere and Opening Day events as well as the film’s presentation in Taipei. There are several moments in the main feature in which characters are seen in a white interrogation room speaking into a camera, and those snippets – billed as “Rehearsal Footage” on the disc – were extrapolated from twelve minute B-roll footage providing otherwise extended cast performances ancillary to the film’s disc release.
Rounding out the disc contents are an image gallery, teaser and trailer compounding up to seventy minutes of special bonus features for 88 Films’ Helter Skelter. The obligatory booklet is another astute eyeful in this package, written Violet Burns titled “The Hungry Girl Machine In Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter”. Whether or not you see the movie first, Burns’s write-up is a must read, and I don’t say this lightly.
In conclusion, I knew little about Sawajiri until getting the opportunity to see this film. Burn’s essay alludes briefly to a point in the star’s career where she took a hiatus following the fallout from doing press for another movie a few years earlier. I’m fascinated by this, in conjunction with Ninagawa’s connection to Sawajiri and her choice to cast her for this film, and seeing how it translates ambiently to the star’s career progression since then. Despite at least one hiccup some years ago, she’s still acting, and she’ll be back this year in a new social drama called #Viral, directed by King Bai. Hopefully this one will hit the festival soon enough that I can watch it and provide some feedback. In the meantime, if you’re in the states, you can pre-order Helter Skelter now from MVDshop.com.
