Topic: EM Embalming (1999) (R1 America)

[samuelrichardscott@yahoo.]

Region: 1
Country of Release: America
Country of Origin: Japan
Distributor: ArtsMagic

Pros:
- A pretty original background story.  Not many films centre around embalming.
- A good cast and decent direction.
- Some very cool gory scenes.
- Subtitling is excellent.  Never hard to read, too fast or unreadable.
- A nice selection of extras.

Cons:
- Doesn't seem to know whether it's a horror, or a thriller.
- A very noticeable layer change (on all my players).
- LFE could've been used a bit more to add to the atmosphere.

[size=150]The Film:[/size]   
EM Embalming, quite possibly the only film in the world where the central character is an embalmer, is about Miyako (Reiko Takashima), who is embalming the body of an apparent suicide victim.  However, when she finds a needle embedded in the body she believes the death may amount to more than first thought.  When she returns to her workplace (I really don't know what you'd call an embalming place?  a studio? an office?  who knows?) she finds that the head from the body has been chopped off and stolen.  It is here that Miyako starts her journey through various subjects including live organ harvesting, drug experiments, religious sects and even more disturbing stuff.  Throughout the story a couple of questions arise.  First of all, who killed the young boy?  And again, who would be sick enough to steal his head?  Directed by Cannes award winning director Shinji Aoyama, EM Embalming (his 8th feature length film) is a gory investigation into the illusions that make up society as we know it.  With some gory scenes, obviously including one of somebody being embalmed as well as the odd limb/head chopping, it is a film that you don't want to watch after having your dinner unless you have a strong stomach.  It certainly isn't a film you should miss altogether.  Starring Reiko Takashima (as Miyako),  Yutaka Matsushige, Seijun Suzuki, Hitomi Miwa and Masatoshi Matsuo, it is also cast well.  The characters take very different paths and all lead very different lives, all of which are conveyed immensely and to the point where you start to feel for each character, trying to solve the clues yourself and continually guess what the next twist is going to be (which if you're like me, you'll also be continually wrong and pleasantly surprised).  The only main problem I had with this the film was that it didn't really know what route it was taking.  It started off as a typical horror film venturing along the lines of Ringu and NEKROmantik (another taboo defying fest), but then slowly turned from what was the trend amongst Japanese horror (which at the time, wasn't the best decision) into a typical thriller style scenario.  Despite this, EM Embalming is a thought provoking film there certainly is no other like it.  Everyone should at least see this film, but afterwards, if you feel a little let down, go and get Eureka (2000), which proved to be a fantastic hit on the festival circuit as well as in my house.

[size=150]The DVD:[/size]

Video:
EM Embalming has been given a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer which is a decent transfer at that.  A very dark film like this always need to show great use of the colours of everything involved, from the surroundings to the characters themselves.  The layer change was unfortunately very noticeable (on both my players and laptop) but was at least placed in a half decent spot where it wasn't going to interrupt the enjoyment of the movie too much.  There is also a slight amount of grain towards the end of the film, most noticeable in the final scene just before the credits.  Not a massive amount (not even an average amount), but it is there.  The English subtitles are good and never too fast, in the way of the picture, or hard to read.

Audio:
We have the choice of two different soundtracks:  Japanese dolby digital 5.1 and Japanese dolby digital 2.0 stereo.  I listened to the 5.1 track and although the track is good, it could have used the LFE a little more in some of the more gruesome scenes to let that terror rip into your chest just to make the film seem more disturbing.  Dialogue was clear at all time, which although it was in Japanese and I was reading the subtitles, is still very important, because it can put you off the film.  Overall, a solid job.

Extras:
We have been treated to several extra features here and in this section, I'll go into a little more detail.

Audio Commentary
First up we have an audio commentary from Jasper Sharp (in English) who is the co-author of ˜The Midnight Eye Guide To New Japanese Film".  Solo commentaries pretty much rate as the worst around but this guy just doesn't stop.  He talks non-stop all the way through the film and the longest amount of silence from him is only when he stops to draw breath.  The best thing about this commentary is the amount of interesting information this guy fits in about every aspect of both the film and Japanese cinema as a whole.  I bet he could easily have gone on for several hours.  The worst thing, is unfortunately, the same as the best thing.  There is so much information that it can be hard to digest and it's is blaringly obvious he's reading readily prepared notes due to his occasional monotonous tone.  Still worth a listen though for fans of the genre.

Interview
Next, we have an exclusive twenty minute interview with director Shinji Aoyama.  The man is interesting and he talks about the different aspects of his career, from how he started to what he is working on now, as well as how he teamed up with the assistant directors he currently has.  Presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Cast and Crew
Finally, we finish off with six in-depth biographies for Shinji Aoyama and the main cast members.  Interesting to read and some good information presented nicely and clearly.