Lumberjack the Monster / Kaibutsu no Kikori jmovie review

 

Who doesn't like serial killer movies? It is a topic that is always fascinating because what sort of human would be compelled to commit multiple crimes for no other reason than to satisfy their own ego? Alas, when I think of serial killer in Japanese movies, I think about how bad Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Creepy was or Oguri Shun's museum. I cannot, off the top of my head think of a good serial killer jmovie.

Which brings me to Miike Takashi's Lumberjack the Monster which is on Netflix. One of Japan's most talented directors, he has made really good movies like Sun Scarred, Audition, Zebraman and Gyakuten Saiban but also horrible movies like Ai to Makoto, Yakuza Apocalypse and Mole Song?

Lumberjack the Monster starts with the police raiding a scary house a long time ago where a woman has kidnapped a lot of kids to cut open their heads. The woman is kills herself and we fast forward to the present, we meet Kame who is playing a lawyer who is actually a serial killer who has no ability to feel guilt or apathy. 

Kame is partner in crime with another serial killer, this time a doctor played by Sometani Shota. One day Kame is ambushed by a person in the lumberjack mask and survives and is injured in his head and discovers that he has a chip in his brain from when he was a child.

Lumberjack the Monster is Miike Takashi at his most restrained. I have always argued that he has great technical skills and works best when he is constrained by the script and story like Sun Scarred instead of when he gets to do whatever he wants like Ryu ga Gotoku.

The violence in Lumberjack is surprisingly restrained when you consider this is the director who did Audition and Ichi the Killer but I argue that less is more and building the tension and suspense is better when less is shown.

I enjoyed the story because it posses the question, if psychopaths exist because they have a deformity in their brain that does not allow them to have guilt and apathy and this can be artificially created, then how much responsibility to psychopaths have for their actions?

The only thing I don't like is Nanao as the profiler police officer chasing Kame. She is just wrong for the role but she is not that crucial so I didn't mind. I am just happy that Miike has done a decent movie and I rather enjoyed it. Watchable.