Do you remember when Japanese-inspired horror films were all the rage, almost a decade ago? It started with The Ring in 2002, which was then followed by The Grudge. They're still somewhat popular to this day. Now, most people know these films were remakes of Japanese films. The original Japanese version of The Ring, known as Ringu, and the success of that film, sparked a great number of films that featured supernatural entities and bizarre imagery, in an attempt to capitalize on the success of Ringu. One such film was Long Dream, a TV-movie made in Japan in 2000, based on a work by horror manga author Junji Ito.
Long Dream Synopsis
Having read the manga before viewing this, I have to admit right now that I'm rather displeased with this film, but not so much that I hate it. The film takes place in a mental hospital and mainly focuses around two patients: Mami Takeshima and Mukoda Tetsurou. Mami suffers from a benign tumor, which causes her to have a crippling fear of death (although in the manga she is never mentioned as having a tumor, only an irrational fear of death).
Mukoda suffers from "long dreams", in which he actually feels himself living for extended periods of time throughout his dreams, and the dreams seem to be getting progressively longer. The film and manga open with Mukoda sleepwalking through the halls, while Mami is sobbing, unable to sleep from her fear. Mukoda hears her cries in his sleep and goes to her, but upon seeing him, she is struck with terror, thinking Mukoda to be Death himself.
We are then introduced to the next main character of the story, Dr. Kuroda, who is investigating Mukoda's case and trying to cure him of his long dreams, which he believes are delusional. But, within only a month of Mukoda staying at the hospital, Kuroda soon learns that the long dreams are all too real, as his dreams become longer, Mukoda's physical appearance begin to change overnight, his eyes and head become enlarged, most of his hair falls out, and his fingers and nails elongate, as he truly is living these great distance of years and centuries throughout a single night of sleep.
Manga Illustrations Translated to Screen
My favorite part of this film is that, for the first half, it really tries to genuinely replicate the iconic imagery from the manga, and I must say, it does that very well. However, the issue here is that the film is an hour long, and the manga itself was a short story that only lasted about 30 pages. About halfway into the film, we reach where the manga ends. One night, during Mukoda enters what appears to be an "eternal dream", and his body has mutated beyond even looking remotely human.
Kuroda is monitoring this dream throughout the night, but when morning comes, Mukoda's body breaks apart and turns to dust. Thus Kuroda believes that Mukoda's spirit has departed to his eternal dream. Kuroda discovers unclassified crystals from the remains of Mukoda's head, and deduces that they have something to do with the dreams.
Up until this point, the film has been fairly faithful to the manga, but this is where it digresses. In the manga, Kuroda believes these crystals are the key to prolonging life, and because Mami fears death, he injects her with a serum made from the crystals, and basically infects her with the same condition Mukoda had. In the film, Kuroda wants to go to this eternal dream world himself, and uses it on Mami first, as a test subject.
Now, you may be asking, why does he want to do this? Well, the reason Kuroda wants to go to this eternal dream is because of a young woman named Kana that's been appearing in his dreams, and does not exist in the manga. You see, we find out that he was in love with Kana when he was a younger man at the hospital, and she suffered an identical case to Mami, having a benign tumor and a fear of death. But after falling in love with Kuroda and becoming engaged to him, she loses the fear. But tragically, her tumor becomes malignant, and not wanting to suffer, she takes her own life. Kuroda believes Mami is still alive in the dream world, because he keeps dreaming of her, and intends to infect himself with the same condition.
Departure from the Original
This part of the film bothers me a little, because it's not what happened in the manga, and it completely changes the character of Dr. Kuroda, who in the manga, is a scientifically-minded individual who suffers from a bit of delusion of grandeur at the end of the manga. In the film however, his motivations are completely obsessive over a lost love that was not even a factor in the original story. I've read customer reviews for this film on Amazon.com and one of the more common complaints about the film is the acting. Well to be honest, for a TV movie, I thought the acting was actually fairly good, save for one or two instances where the acting is so cheesy it feels like a '50s drive-in monster movie.
The scene in question is when Kuroda and another doctor enter Mukoda's room, and see him sitting on the floor. When Kuroda speaks to him, he stretches his arms out like a stereotypical zombie and wails , for no reason whatsoever, to which Kuroda explains that Mukoda is acting strange because he isn't sure if he's dreaming or awake anymore. Now, that really doesn't excuse that cheesy visual, but I excuse it, because it's replicating a panel from the manga.
One thing however, that I cannot excuse is a specific special effect. Now, notice I said effect, not effects, because the special effects for Mukoda's transformation are quite visually stunning in that they look realistic, and accurately recreate Junji Ito's vision. However, throughout the film, there is an exterior shot of the hospital that is used several times, only it's not a shot; It's an exceedingly poor CGI render of the hospital.
Now, I'm not sure why the director thought that would be a good move. Wouldn't it have been cheaper and actually look a lot better to just use a picture or film outside an actual hospital for a few seconds? The answer is yes, but apparently the director didn't think so. And the exterior of the hospital has no significance, there are no outside scenes at all in this film, it takes place entirely inside the hospital. The exterior "shot" of the hospital is only used incidentally or for the purpose of transitioning between scenes. The only explanation I can come up with is that they really wanted everything to look true to the manga, and just couldn't find a building that looked similar enough.
Mixed Review
All in all, Long Dream is not by any means a bad film, but on the other hand, it's not necessarily a good film either. If you've read the review this far, you might be thinking, " So, what was the big reveal? Where did those crystals that caused the dreams actually come from and how did they get into Mukoda's head?" Well, that is a question that will never be answered, and that right there, is the main reason why I believe Junji Ito's works are just not suited to film. The man is a masterful artist, a talented storyteller, and a genius at creating hideous and nightmarish visions, the like of which you could never fathom on your own.
But if Junji Ito has one weakness, it is this: he is not good at writing an ending. So many of Junji Ito's manga ends abruptly with no real closure for the main character, nor does he usually explain why these bizarre things occur in his stories, but that is part of his appeal. When you read a Junji Ito manga, it's like you're reading a Twilight Zone episode, except much more grotesque. But the problem is, it doesn't translate well to film, because audiences these days do not like being left confused, nor do they like being depressed, which is a problem for adapting Ito's work to film, because there is never a happy ending, the best you'll get is something bittersweet, and even that is a rarity in an Ito manga.
So, final verdict: Do you like Japanese horror films? Do you really like to see creepy bizarre imagery ( for example, are you a fan of H.R Giger, Salvador Dali, or H.P Lovecraft?) If so, then I suggest you pick up this film right away, or failing that, read the manga. Because this story isn't scary in the "slasher" sense, but scary in the way that unsettles you, and might even make you a little reluctant to look in the mirror after you wake up in the morning. However, if you're not into these things, you will not enjoy this film.
Paul Schifferli - Paul Schifferli
