Description

Following hot sex with a prostitute, a young man steps out for cigarettes. When he returns, all that remains of the woman is a finger in the bathtub. He is assaulted from behind, tied to the bed and eviscerated by an unknown assailant. An inter-title sets the story back seven days and introduces us to a fashion-model studio setting. Young wannabe model Asuka shares a hotel room with the older, cynical ex-model Kasumi/Lucy. One evening, Asuka witnesses a brutal murder in an adjoining hotel room, with the same MO as the opening murder. Poor viewing conditions make a clear identity impossible, but the killer looks like a deceased former roommate of Kasumi’s, Mari Ayabe. Victims pile up with bizarre MO’s: red roses stuck in the eyes, voodoo tattoos stitched into skin, severed limbs, decapitations and piano-wire mutilations. There are plenty of suspects, but little in the way of solid clues, which leads young detective Shirasaki to a retired profiler who specialized in "kooks and cults." Is the killer the sullen, anti-social Kasumi? Is it her twin sister Lucy? Is it her ex-roommate Ayabe? Is it Kasumi’s mysterious American father?

Black Kiss is a serial killer film with an unusual blend of Japanese and Western influences. Of the former, the most obvious is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s groundbreaking Cure (1997), while several Western films seem to have been siphoned through director Macoto Tezka’s consciousness. The Italian giallo is present largely in the first part of the film, with the killer’s all-black costume, the world of high fashion (Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace), and the garish colour lighting palette (reds, greens, blues) which recalls Bava and Dario Argento. Tezka also pays homage to Hitchcock’s proto-serial killer film Psycho, with shower scenes, the use of taxidermy, the theme of split personalities and obvious script references (characters with the surname "Crane" and Kasumi’s residence at "Motel Bats"). The film’s emphasis on the "sisterly" relationship between Asuka and Kasumi suggests the more surprising possible influence of Jane Campion’s own revisionist serial killer film, In The Cut, which also makes reference to the giallo and places an important emphasis on the relationship between two female characters, who are half-sisters; and Asuka and Kasumi are pointedly described as being "half" (meaning half-Japanese). While Black Kiss purposely raises more questions than it answers, it remains a sophisticated reworking of the serial killer film.

—Donato Totaro

Website

http://www.blackkiss.net/

Credits

Director: Macoto Tezka
Screenplay: Macoto Tezka
Cast: Masanobu Ando, Angie, Reika Hashimoto, Seri Iwahori, Kikuo Kaneuchi, Kaori Kawamura
Producers: Takashi Asai
Distributor: Gold View