Sunday 17 May 2020

Rubber's Lover (1996)



Director: Shozin Fukui
Screenplay: Shozin Fukui
Cast: Nao as Kiku; Norimizu Ameya as Hitotsubashi; Yôta Kawase as Shimika; Mika Kunihiro as Akari; Sosuke Saito as Motomiya
Re-Review

[Review contains some plot spoilers]

Set in the claustrophobic world of an unknown urban Japanese city, between the back alleys there is an underground basement accessed by a massive industrial lift, where experiments are transpiring that cross the line to violent scientific malpractice. Rubber's Lover follows alongside 964 Pinocchio (1991) as one of two of Shozin Fukui's films that may be known about in the West, entirely due to Unearthed Films releasing them in the United States in the DVD days. They are an interesting company in that their stock in trade in very transgressive cinema, be it releasing the notorious Japanese Guinea Pig films or something as notorious as Philosophy of the Knife (2008), only that among some odd curveballs* they also released these films, very much in the transgressive side of cinema but also very alien to it at the same time. That alienness comes from the fact that Shozin Fukui, working as an assistant director on Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), he is less fixated on the transgressive but a kinetic intensity in these films.

Rubber's Lover is meant to be a prequel to 964 Pinocchio (1991), though it is best to imagine that co-existing in the same world, the future of that earlier film (of a brainwashed male sex toy who gains his consciousness again) is built from the fall out to this, Motomiya (Sosuke Saito) and Shimika (Yôta Kawase) two male scientists who are being backed in experiments to use psychic powers, having progressed to human test subjects. Their tools are "ether", not the gas used in early surgery as an anaesthetic (but an apt choice of name for symbolism) but a drug that is highly addicted, alongside the "Direct Digital Drive" technology. Motomiya has become a body building sociopath which has not helped matters, with Shimika easy to manipulate into this work, between them having a habit of killing their test subjects with their nurse assistant Akari (Mika Kunihiro). Their breaking point comes when an about-to-be-wedded secretary to their benefactor Kiku (Nao) comes to them informing the pair the project is going to be shut down. Things do not turn out that way as Motomiya snaps and she is held hostage.

Both films for Shozin Fukui transpire on the idea of the extremity of physical and mental agony eventually leading to a transcendental, and usually violent, power. The experiments here also involve the titular rubber, BDSM full rubber costumes which block out external stimuli as subjects wear them, are injected with ether and have their minds blasted out with noise until psychic power is induced. The film originates from both Fukui's fascination and research into psychic powers, having met people claiming such powers, and the connections he found when he also started talking to people in the burgeoning BDSM scene in his homeland1. Among his research, including trying one for himself1, was the use of rubber outfits and the fact that, yes, the material blocks the ability of the skin to sweat and breath, making them both dangerous to wear as a costume for a long period of time, and in context to this film the costume is used by the scientists to induce a further state of mental agony.

With one of their last subjects being a potential success, Hitotsubashi (Norimizu Ameya), the pair has made the unfortunate decision to use someone who was researching this subject matter and they stole his work from, all alongside erased memories proving an ill advised idea especially as he has nothing for contempt for the scientists. That Kiku is an open conduit for his mind as two people glad to take revenge on their torment, set up in hints early on, proves where this will lead to. The latter plot point is of note as, whilst I am an admirer of the film, I confess that there is at least one moment of extremity which has dated even if it is treated as the uncomfortable scene it should be, named that the kick off for Motomiya snapping and holding Kiku captive is the evil scientist committing sexual assault, uncomfortable to witness though it fits the darkness of the premise.


I will, having been an admirer of the film, confess that there is a least one moment which does not hold up as a good choice even for a film which is dealing with extremity, namely that the kick off for Motomiya snapping and holding Kiku captive is the evil scientist committing sexual assault, uncomfortable to witness though it fits the darkness of the premise. It is the one moment in a film, which does deal with explicit kink and titillation, which does jar in the modern day. Thankfully, it is depicted as horrifying, as it should be, and doesn't mar what Rubber's Lover escalates to in terms of a visual and audio assault worthy of being seen. That Kiku does have that plot point, which in this world where people have some semblance of confirmed psychic power, helps soothe the scene. It at least means, whilst it could have been done differently, there is a sense that it will be building to something of worth, she connecting literally to a male test subject who has been left a drug addict and tortured for a prolonged amount of time, Hitotsubashi once a talented chemical scientist reduced to this, and thus two damaged figures getting their revenge in a literal devastating power.

Shot in extreme monochrome, this is not a "pleasant" film but it is a thing of a vile beauty, compelling from the get-go in its deep black and white visuals. You can feel the dankness of the environments, even in a DVD standard release, just for the grain in the scenes. It was, humorously, due to it being perceived that the rubber suit would look terrible in colour1, but that little change helps the film have a distinctive style which adds to it. One scene later on, which actively hurts the eyes as Hitotsubashi awakens with his new powers and lashes out, has flashing imagery and turns into a combination of Peter Kubelka's notorious advert for a beer Schwechater (1958), of black and white figures in flashing edits,  and Paul Sharits' short film T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G. (1968).

For the most part, this is a kinetic mood piece, which as a result means that any theme for the film, as talked of, is told through the action. The effect, the experience, of the film is through pulp storytelling where the atmosphere takes you in and pummels the viewer. Even when the film returns back to society, Shozin Fukui likes to depict an urban reality through grime and the lived in environments he probably lived in himself, particularly as between this and 964 Pinocchio he has an obsession with Japanese supermarkets and their septic white decor, a location with their paths and shelves which is very cinematic in its own way.

Rubber's Lover is a great example of how, for me, Japanese locations in their genre cinema, from wasteland behind wire fences to ordinary stores, have an inherently unique mood that is inherently cinematic, even if you do not take into consideration the distinct cultural aesthetic behind their public environments like their pedestrian utility signs to crossing light systems having a specific sound when people can cross that have poor eyesight. This could all stem merely from watching so many films from Japanese that had to shot on existing locations, but never was there an environment usually ignored in cinema, ordinary public environments, which even in their animation (as replicating real locations is common) Japanese film and television filmmakers have breathed a life into. In other country's cinema, like mind, there was always a danger of it coming off cheap; probably because films like this use them in resourceful ways, one back alley could lead to such peculiar sights like those you witness in Rubber's Lover.

The film also manages to carve its own distinction in the tiny subgenre of Japanese cyberpunk, creating its own startling imagery. The full rubber suit, with a head set obscuring the entire area above the neck and two cameras on each hip showing the wearer's eyes, is startling, and once the physical and metaphysical nature of the piece comes about, the style of the film which was already extreme even becomes poetic in its extremity, when such incidents like it "snowing" inside an apartment transpires. Tragically, Fukui's career whilst continuing onwards became obscure in terms of access.  This is a shame as, together with 964 Pinocchio, they are very idiosyncratic films by themselves, worthy of rediscovery and startling experiences separately.
Abstract Spectrum: Atmospheric/Intense
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): Medium


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1) The Unearthed Films release offers a small interview with the director-writer which provides these interesting titbits.

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