Fabrice Rodriguez sleeps with a giant chrysalis in Olivier Smolders’ surreal BLACK NIGHT.
nobleman sentenced to death and decapitated 50 years ear- lier, who happened to exchange glances with an ancestor of Iratsume’s mere seconds before his death by decapitation. As a religious discipline, Iratsume embarks on inscribing one thousand scrolls with the Amida Sutra, and after completing this immense task, succumbs to a delirium in which she envisions a sacred temple revealing its lo- cation to her. She walks there through a terrible storm and meets Otsu’s ghost, mistaking it for a vision of Buddha. In turn, Otsu mistakes her for the mys- terious woman (her ancestor) whose eyes he met when his heart beat its last, and they pro- ceed to haunt each other, their respective yearnings for a life in the flesh and a life of spirit gal- vanizing into disembodied love. Learning the truth of Otsu’s identity, Iratsume sets to work on a giant soul-pacifying shroud for his ghost, woven from the
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fibers found in the stalks of gi- gantic azalea blooms he has caused to miraculously grow. Told in delightful sequential vignettes, Kawamoto’s master- piece is barely feature-length but so rich in character (indeed, soul), colors, textures, terror and mystery that it more than carries the requisite narrative weight. There are indelible mo- ments of magic—sometimes conveyed by the animator’s ex- pert hand, as when the shawl of a maid flutters in the breeze, or when a steed’s ear flutters to shoo away flies; other times, the magic is conceptual, like the idea of two statues of enemies whose eyes never unlock re- gardless of where they are moved, or epiphanic, as when a group of peasants chance to spy Iratsume’s unveiled face, a scene that conveys a palpable thrill of privilege. The 1.33:1 transfer is lovely though not outstanding, and there are no extras.
BLACK NIGHT Nuit Noire
2004, Cult Epics, DD-5.1/16:9/LB/ST/+, $29.95, 88m 49s, DVD-1 By Rebecca and Sam Umland
Belgian filmmaker Olivier Smolders’ remarkable BLACK NIGHT resists reduction to a simple synopsis, as its method of organization is lyrical (that is, poetic) rather than conventional narrative. This method of orga- nization is sometimes referred to as “Surrealism,” meaning that it employs Freudian psychoanaly- sis not as a means of interpreta- tion, but as a means of artistic creation. There is a conventional protagonist, though: Oscar (Fabrice Rodriguez), an ento- mologist, spends his hours cata- loging and pinning beetles to museum display cards. He is haunted by a childhood memory involving the death of his sister; he may or may not have been respon- sible for her death. Arriving home
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