09/23/2002 Entry:
"Ring - Hideo Nakata (1998)"

Having seen Nakata's Chaos a couple weeks ago, I was sufficiently inspired to seek out some more of his work, and I found a copy of both Ring and Ring 2 on DVD on Ebay. Sweet.

Ring was inherently creepy and disturbing but in a very subtle way. The oddly warped faces in the character's Polaroids reminded me of the masked demons in Jacob's Ladder. In many ways a warped, disfigured human face is far more disturbing than any demon or monster could ever be. As the characters search and get closer and closer to their answers, the mood gets more and more tense, served quite well by the moody noir cinematography and the counting down of the days (reminiscient of Donnie Darko) underscored by a creepy understated soundtrack. The video itself also worked as a very creepy thing, especially the constantly moving scenes of Shizuko in the mirror, skipping from place to place. Hell, I'd be creeped out if I saw this on TV out of the blue late at night too. I really liked the end, I have to admit I had not figured out the gag, even thought at some point I had been thinking about the plot and wondering how it related to the title.

I liked this quite a bit, maybe even more than Chaos. First off, it didn't seem like it relied on a gag as a plot device, and second it focused on a more human story, delving into the character's lives and relationships in a much more direct way. I really got the feeling towards the end that Reiko was searching for a solution less for herself and more for her son. It also contained one scene in a well which honestly scared the shit out of me. At the time I was watching the movie on my laptop at the gate while waiting for a plane at O'Hare, and when a movie can draw you in so far that you get the shit scred out of you will all that chaos going on, you know its doing something right.

The only bummer for me were some plot points which seemed to be left hanging or slightly unresolved. For instance, early on we are told that the video states to the viewer "you have one week to live", yet no version of the video we see actually says that. I'll just chalk that up to failed word of mouth and legends getting out of hand. Also, the phone is supposed to ring after a viewing, and after Reiko views the video, her phone does in fact ring and do some creepy thing. But then when her husband and son view the tape the phone does not ring, leading me to speculate for some time that they actually weren't going to be cursed because of their experiences. These seem like somewhat minor things, but they bothered me.

Hollywood is now doing a remake of this, I've already seen some promos for it. I really hope that it will be decent, and not just some horrible piece of crap, but judging by the pedigree of its director (Mouse Hunt, The Mexican) I don't have my hopes up. At the very least maybe it will bring some attention to Nakata so we can see some more of his films projected here in the states. There is one other DVD of his I saw on Ebay, Dark Water, which I will probably pick up but there are still a couple more of his films listed in IMDB which don't seem to be available.

Replies: 7 comments

I had the pleasure of viewing RING on TV, alone in my apartment, during a dark and cloudy afternoon. Needless to say, the "money shot" scene scared the crap out of me. Also, my copy of the DVD allowed you to watch Sadako's video all by itself. It took me almost a day to work up the courage to watch it. If you get a chance, check out RING 2. It's not nearly as good as the first, and, except for the last 1/2 hour, it's like the world's longest epilogue. But it has an interesting feel, simply because it kinda meanders, the screenwriting equivalent of an improvised jazz solo. (Not necessarily a *good* solo, but a solo.) I have much higher hopes for THE RING (U.S.), but then, I like what Gore Verbinski's done so far. It seems to me he's a great visual stylist, the next David Fincher, and he's been in search of a great script. There's a shot in MOUSEHUNT, with Nathan Lane simply standing in the snow, that looked amazing, and for a brief, brief moment, I thought, I *hoped* that the movie would go in a completely different direction, something where the story followed the images, and not vice-versa. Of course, it quickly returned to HOME ALONE WITH A MOUSE, but whenever I think of Verbinski, I think of the possibility that one moment presented. Kent Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/25/2002 11:28 AM CST

I actually have the DVD of Ring 2, I just haven't gotten around to watching it yet. My DVD had no bonus features, I'm not really sure of its origin since I got it off Ebay, but the quality was good. I actually have to admit to never seeing any of Verbinski's films, so I guess my judgement is somewhat premature and based only on my impressions of his movies as being commercial garbage. Although these days I wouldn't necessarily take being called "the next Fincher" as a compliment. In my mind Fincher has made one truly great film (Seven), one good but deeply flawed film (Fight Club), two films that were entertaining but really nothing special (The Game, Panic Room) and one piece of utter crap (Alien 3). Actually I guess that having made one truly great film beats most people, and all those films are visually beautiful, so maybe I shouldn't complain. And speaking of Asian classics, I just found a copy of King Hu's supposedly wildly influential A Touch Of Zen on Ebay. Almost certainly a bootleg, but its letterboxed and subtitled and I've been looking for it off and on for about a year. Looking forward to seeing that. Posted by gdd @ 09/25/2002 12:57 PM CST

Well, to be fair, MOUSEHUNT and THE MEXICAN *are*, in most respects, commercial garbage :-) But he has a great eye and can get good performances out of weak material. I'd love to see Verbinski go and pull a Tarkovskian anti-narrative out of his hat, but that'd be getting my hopes up. Thanks for the comments re: Fincher; now I got a reading on where you stand. In my mind (hope you don't mind the parody!) Fincher has made two truly great films (THE GAME and FIGHT CLUB), one good but deeply flawed film (PANIC ROOM), one film that was entertaining but really nothing special (SE7EN) and one piece of utter crap (ALIEN 3). I haven't seen any King Hu; can't wait to hear about it! Kent Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/25/2002 01:12 PM CST

Hah, nice opposing Fincher viewpoints. Thats interesting because I've never seen anyone, that I know of, who is way into The Game, but not into Seven. Care to elaborate? Posted by gdd @ 09/25/2002 01:22 PM CST

First thing I wanna get off my chest: the way the "Fincher sentence" is set up, it looks like I prefer PANIC ROOM to SE7EN, and that aint even close to the truth. (Perhaps if the word "deeply" were underlined about a hundred times, that would me more clear.) Next: I like SE7EN a lot--I own the DVD--but I don't think it's "anything special" in that, to me, it's a very clever serial killer movie, impeccably shot and acted, but ultimately a thriller that doesn't do anything more than thrill. Not that there's anything wrong with that; more movies should be able to hit their bullseyes the way SE7EN does. But THE GAME...it moves me. I get teary just thinking about the end when Michael Douglas thinks he's royally screwed up and jumps off the building and you think that's it, the bad guys got what they wanted, it's over, but wait, no, he lands in a huge-ass balloon and, for once, a character's catharsis and the audience's catharsis are ONE, and then Sean Penn gives him the T-shirt and it's funny and it makes me want to cry. I don't know if that helps at all :) Here's Mike D'angelo's legendary (well, in my mind) defense of THE GAME, if you haven't read it: (http://www.panix.com/~dangelo/col20.html#game.html) It says everything I wished I could say. Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/25/2002 02:33 PM CST

I suppose I should revisit The Game, I saw it in the theatres opening weekend and just remember being underwhelmed, although there were aspects of it I really liked. It does have an awesome credits sequence. All your comments about Seven are probably true, yet I still consider it one of the great films of the 90s. The whole final act is just so masterfully done, Brad Pitt fighting with his inner self making the impossible choice, in bright sunlight for the first time in the whole movie. Kevin Spacey just on fire, as good as he has ever been. That film is something else. Posted by gdd @ 09/26/2002 12:23 PM CST

Oh, I hear you about the end of SE7EN. Any movie that has me on the edge of my seat from Kevin Spacey simply *talking* in the back of a police car is doing something right. Kent Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/26/2002 01:43 PM CST