Mujô

Although it may not be immediately evident primarily due to the incest theme, the real main characters are the young nihilist Masao and his spiritual adversary, but also his alter ego, the monk Ogino. The whole film is built on the contrast between these characters - a film about breaking conventions in behavior and imagination - in which the final confrontation between the two rivals is the true culmination and enlightenment for the viewer. In this aspect, the film is most interesting - its (I do not know to what disturbing extent, I do not know Japan) attack on religion, in which the worship of Buddhist symbols is revealed as bowing to one's own suppressed and hidden desires (often quite perverse even in the purest individuals, as shown by the plotline with the sculptor of sacred statues). The sacred spaces (the monastery, the place with the most beautiful incestuous moments) and objects (statues) are precisely the signs, symbols, and signifiers of this desire that, by their own nature as untouchably pure (physically and mentally) objects, they have to conceal. Yet as we can see, they cannot do it completely, and then we can see two strategies for dealing with life's uncertainty arising from this fact: either conscious cynicism like Masao or as a cowardly monk, literally futilely fleeing from awareness of his own desire, and therefore weakness, which he tried to suppress by escaping into social and religious conventions. /// The film is also very distinct in its formal aspects, especially with the camera - it utilizes almost all the techniques from the cameraman's catalog at that time. (2015.02.25)