A Snake of June

Just as twistedly brilliant as Tetsuo, though slightly less hyperkinetic, Tsukamoto's A Snake of June explores similar themes of repressed sexuality and contrasting worlds, but with a far more linear plotline. Though metallic phallus imagery and psychosexual encounters do make an appearance.

When suicide hotline counselor Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa) receives explicit photos of herself from a mysterious caller, she is thrown into a depraved game of hidden fantasies and unrestrained sexual desire. As the voyeuristic stalker becomes determined to alter her passionless life, Rinko's compulsively clean husband Shigehiko (Yuji Koutari) attempts to hunt him down and the three disillusioned soul's paths will inevitably intertwine.

Tsukamoto's visual style is unmistakably daring and A Snake of June is no exception. Bathed in blue to suggest the unrelenting presence of water, the images created are painstakingly crafted and unforgettably bizarre. Close-ups of snails, drains, and circular windows mix with frantic shots of action and nightmarishly surreal dreams pepper reality. Far more linear than some of Tsukamoto's previous efforts, there's still plenty of hallucinatory imagery to comprehend, most memorably the sex show dream sequence accenting the themes of voyeurism and the contrast of viewing the organic through circles. Frenetic editing and dizzying camerawork also strive to keep this thriller from ever slowing down, and even during extended single shots on a stationary subject, the camera refuses to stay put, heightening the sense of voyeurism and paranoia. Even in the chapter breaks Tsukamoto's maddeningly creative artistry is at work as curious symbols denote the passing of time and the gradual joining of figures.

To match the delirious visuals is a fantastically diverse array of sound effects and music from composer Chu Ishikawa. Unending rain echoes in every scene and foreboding strings alternate the mood from morose to morbid, yet there's always a calming satisfaction from the violins. Percussive tribalistic music heavy with the sounds of clanging metal enhances the tense scenes of violence and operatic tones waft through the more surrealistic segments.

With disturbing imagery reminiscent of David Lynch's Eraserhead (but with more meaningful parallels and less unexplained randomness), A Snake of June is a brilliant examination of voyeurism, buried desires, and suppressed passion through the looking glass of a twisted genius. Tsukamoto again proves he is the master of the sadistically surreal and has long since passed his American counterparts in both style and presentation.

- Joel Massie

alot of people have expressed dissatisfaction for this film, i feel maybe its because the people compare this to his other works a little too rash, but maybe not. shinya tsukamoto is one of of my top favorite directors & i found this film to be quite a pleasureable film experience (though often throughout the film you cant tell whether the characters pleasure or disquietude; i think thats what i enjoyed the most). the cinematography is bliss; a grand blue tinted b/w & plenty of rain to fit the mood. i enjoyed the three central characters as well, finding tsukamoto's character, iguchi, to be my favorite. perhaps because he is the most complex character throughout the film. sure, his "personal & devestating" secret is revealed towards the film's conclusion, but even that aside, you never really pick up upon what is really driving his behavior and actions towards tatsumi. a logical person would maybe identify a sense of sadomasochism, but i like to think deeper than that, almost as if through this "sadism" he is freeing her from a life she thinks she wants, but in her heart, knows she doesnt.

i think maybe viewers were approaching this one more logically because it was less abstract than, say the tetsuo films, or even vital. it focused more on what could be a realistic situation and often a cliche in mystery films(the married couple who's life is shattered by a voyeaur's constant prowl/spy)which did not end like a cliche mystery would, but then again, tsukamoto never really presents this film as a mystery, to me it seems more like a symblism used through urban lore about someone who has lost hope in himself and attempted to, in his own point of view, try and restore hope to the person who helped him find his again, or so it may seem...

i honestly find it hard(& innapropriate) to summarize snake of june or any of tsukamoto's films like an elementary schoolkid would on some book report, so all i can say is that though this is not a good place to start in viewing tsukamoto's films, it is a still a worthy watch, especially if you are already a fan of tsukamoto, or are just open to watching something completly different.

A Snake of June (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2002)

There are those, and they are legion, who find those of us who contend that the Japanese simply make better movies overall than the Americans these days are just some sort of film snobs with a fetish for foreignness. I would answer that those people should, as just one example of what I'm talking about, take A Snake of June and hold it up against any American sexual psychodrama of the past twenty years (and, come to think of it, the only one I can really find to compare it to is Jane Campion's woefully terrible In the Cut). The simple fact of the matter is that Americans, whether it be filmmakers themselves or the studios who distribute the films, simply aren't capable of coming up with stuff like this. It's just not in our nature or something.

The tale follows Iguchi (Shinya Tsukamoto), who begins as a suicidal photographer. He calls a suicide hotline and is talked out of killing himself by Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa). He grows obsessed with her and her husband Shigehiko (Yuji Kohtari) and begins stalking them, setting in motion events that will take all three on journeys of self-revelation.

That's a woefully incomplete synopsis, but little revelations (such as why Iguchi was suicidal in the first place, and how he makes his presence known to Rinko) pop up sporadically throughout the film that ripple into the greater revelations, and so pretty much everything in the film after the first ten minutes or so is a spoiler. All I can do is say "trust me, the plot's taken care of." And it's a fine plot, if a bit impressionist (this should be no surprise to those who are already familiar with Tsukamoto's work). The actors are very good at what they do, and all the other technical details are nicely done. But what makes this film so compelling is, of course, Shinya Tsukamoto's vision, both literally and figuratively. Figuratively because it's hard to imagine, here in America, that films can still be this deliciously shocking; literally because Kaijyu Theater films have a certain look to them. Shinya Tsukamoto has gotten away from the biotechnological obsessions of his earlier films, but he has retained much of the visual style that made Tetsuo such a nightmarish experience; years of practice, of course, have honed it somewhat, and toning down the subject matter brings the visual style a bit more into focus. It's a kind of blend of the Hong Kong martial arts flick and Polanski's Knife in the Water, if that makes any sense.

This is very, very good stuff, and well worth tracking down. ****