The Pillow Book
(France / UK / Netherlands, 1995; Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese with English subtitles)
Seen for $8.75 on 22 June 1997 by myself at the SONY Tower East.
Peter Greenaway's latest film proves to be a departure from his recent efforts--it has a discernible plot. The last, and only, Greenaway film I have seen was Prospero's Book, and it was one of the best naps I have ever had in the movies. Other patrons asked me to stop snoring, since it was keeping them awake. He is probably best known for The Cook, the Thief, the Wife and Her Lover. In The Pillow Book, Nagiko (Vivian Wu) tells us her life story. As a girl, her father would write on her face and neck. She also witnesses her father (Ken Ogata) subjected to an inferior sexual role by his Hong Kong publisher (Yoshi Oida). Interspersed with her story are passages from the 1000-year-old pillow book of the Empress Nagiko; her modern-day namesake tries to keep a pillow book of her own as well.
Greenaway finds wonderful ways to display the vivid descriptions from the Empress's writings. Years later, Nagiko has trouble finding a perfect relationship that balances good lovemaking with good calligraphy. After a disastrous marriage in Japan, Nagiko flees to Hong Kong, where she lives in squalor but eventually climbs to lavishness. She eventually meets Jerome (Ewan McGregor), the bisexual that Nagiko initially rejects but then takes on as a lover. He convinces her to write on him, rather than being written on. She wants to get her work published by her father's publisher, so she writes her work on Jerome and send him to the publisher, who has his workers copy down the text. He also partakes in lovemaking with Jerome as well. Greenaway has made a name for himself as a visual artist whose storylines often fall flat.
The Pillow Book features a visual opulence rarely seen in the cinema today. He uses picture-within-a -picture techniques that requires a certain visual agility from the viewer, especially since there are subtitles involved as well. Making viewers uncomfortable is also something for which Greenaway is famous, by grossing out the audience (grave desecration), by showing us the painstaking sexual education of Nagiko by her parents, the cruelty of her husband (Ken Mitsuishi), or by tiring the audience out with repetition. But through it all, every frame of the film is alive, with color, black-and-white, multiple frames, excellent cinematography and striking sets.
The performances are fine, but they are secondary to the filming and the mise-en-scene. Also, since the storyline and the characters are so bizarre, it is hard to comment on the performances, except to say that the actors certain meet the challenge. There are some long passages without dialogue, and this will probably unsettle American audiences used to explosions and foul language. The most "violent" scenes in the film occur when Nagiko slaps someone, and some environmental activists who kidnap Nagiko. (That subplot, along with the annoying photographer Hoki (Yutaka Honda), are the most annoying and distracting portions of the film.)
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Copyright (c) 1997 Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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