Horror content.  As opposed to horrible things.  Horror movies are so diverse, like movies writ more broadly, and can have so many different good qualities.  Humor, wit, suspense, thrills, and… art.  On the cinematically sophisticated end, observe the movies of Kiyoshi Kurosawa.  He does a good job of transcending international boundaries, I’m not sure how.  Maybe it’s the focus on modern life and anxieties, which Asia and the West do have in common.

I just feel like much of the time when I watch Japanese TV or movies, it’s too Japanese to connect with, and the exact opposite happens with this Kurosawa.  It’s not like he’s making American-style movies either, tho maybe he has a big influence from the more realistic end of film noir, or some cinema I’m not even familiar with, from France or whatever.  He did do at least one French movie.

So, Sakebi (叫) aka Retribution.  The spooky ghost ladies you expect from J-Horror, but in this one, they’re in the bright light of day.  This movie isn’t considered one of his classics, but it’s got layers.  And humor.  And horror.  And an artist’s meditation on the creation and destruction of the urban realm.  The funniest scene is feminist revenge fantasy.  I’d probably ruin the joke to say more.

And the ending is sad and horrible and could make one feel big something.

This is where I got the ghost meme from yesterday’s article.  The trailer, content warning for a moment of convincing dead woman:

Find it with subtitles somewhere and watch it.

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