Original
Japanese Title: GEKIJO-BAN: REI [Zero: Movie Version]
(Note: Rei can translate into either Zero or Spirit)
director: Mari Asato
starring: Aoi Morikawa · Ayami Nakajo · Kodai Asaka · Minori Hagiwara
· Fujiko Kojima · Jun Miho
Essentially,
this film
is an adaptation of a Japanese novel Rei (Zero) [aka A
Curse Affecting Only Girls] by Eiji Ontsuka (the writer responsible
for Takashi Miike's MPD
series). The novel Rei was based on the popular
video game called Fatal Frame in the United States.
Here
is the story of Michi (played by IT-girl Aoi Morikawa),
a student at a conservative school in Japan. The all-girls Catholic
academy is engulfed turmoil after the mysterious disappearances and
deaths of several classmates. Seemingly, they had been affected by a
haunting photo of a student named Aya that had been taken with a "Camera
Obscura." Michi, who has special photography skills of her own,
tries to dig into the emotions encased in the photo - especially an
unrequited lesbian love - before the spirit of Aya is released to claim
further victims.
Mari
Asato's film is a strange Japanese project, a lesbian coming-of-age
Gothic ghost story set against the backdrop of a contemporary video
game. At once, it appears to be the embodiment of innocent love, but
- as heroine Michi soon discovers - it's anything but harmless. Some
critics have compared this movie with the Korean thriller TALE
OF TWO SISTERS but it demands to be accepted on its own terms,
as an ethereal yet traumatic tangent from a video game.
Filmmaker
Mari Asato is one of the few female directors in Japan's heavy male-dominated
industry. She began her career as an actress and then moved to film
directing in 2005 with BOY
FROM HELL. She was involved with the RING
TV SERIES and has helmed other cyber-horror fare, most notablyGAME:
CELL PHONE GIRLFRIEND.
A Japanese
production with English subtitles; widescreen format (9:16),
uncut version (104 min.), DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on
any American machine.
Extras include original trailer.
