Blue Spring (Aoi Haru, 2001)

Toyoda Toshiaki

Japan

83 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev

DVD courtesy of Artsmagic.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (clap, clap)... and clap, clap, while you have the guts or until you splatter your brains on the asphalt. Hanging from the rail on their high school roof, upper classmen compete for the leadership of the gang (and school) in a ritual that is a perverse twist on the popular song. Letting go of the rail, they clap as many times as they can before grabbing hold of it right before they plunge to their deaths below. A test of nerve, not unlike our very own game of chicken, this exercise is meant to show who's boss.

Androgynous Ryuhei Matsuda as Kujo	The ruling caste of the high school

And bossing the high school sorely needs. The film practically opens with a terrified teacher running for safety, leaping into a taxi, and begging to be driven off while his students are in hot pursuit. Toyoda's film is set in a seemingly anarchic high school where the teachers are seldom to be seen, and the entire place is left to drown in its graffiti, hopelessness, and petty tyranny organized by those who dare clap their hands enough times. But the anarchy is not chaotic for the school is governed by a ruthless and rigid social code that is as brutal as it is honest: whoever has least regard for life gets to dominate it.

Shadows of the Nephilim	Is Aoki your gopher?

Toyoda portrays a bleak reality whose faithfulness to Japan's society today I cannot judge for I have never been to that country. However, it is not difficult to grasp the main outline. The high school is in the middle of what must be a bustling city, yet it is strangely isolated, with the outside world barely intruding upon its secluded existence. Ironically enclosed in beautiful cherry trees blossoming in the middle of spring, the school is a world without a future. Students exist with no point save coming to class only to sleep through math and history lessons. There is no ambition except for a lone aspirant to the baseball nationals whose hopes are ruined too.

Aoki's humiliation begins	Yukio and Kujo discussing "future" plans

With no reward waiting for them, with nothing to aspire to, the young men have no incentive to hew the line of propriety. So they organize their own world according to a hierarchy that should provide some meaning to their life by letting them define themselves by their placement within it. Leadership is something to aspire to but precisely because it is so coveted by some, it is the one position open to contestation and constant challenge which is brutally punished if it fails. This time Kujo claps eight times and becomes the leader. Almost immediately he faces a revolt by one fellow class mate, a revolt that he puts down quickly and viciously.

Smokin' in the boys' room	Wanna die?

I like to call the boys "the Nephilim" (coming from the word meaning 'untimely birth' and 'miscarriage') for they are dumped into a society that has failed them in the worst of all possible ways: it has not given them anything to look forward to, anything to strive for, anything to live for. When Kujo (Matsuda Ryuhei) withdraws further and further, shrinking from his responsibility to enforce the hierarchy, the group begins to lose its cohesion. Kujo's childhood friend Aoki (Arai Hirofumi) is humiliated and even though the punishment is forthcoming, he becomes marginalized, mocked by fellow gang members and other students alike.

If you're happy and you know it...	Countdown to extinction

The more Kujo withdraws, the more he fails in his responsibilities as a leader. The predictable consequence is that order falls apart for their peculiar society ceases to provide the benefits of self-esteem that it is supposed to. The gang starts to hemorrhage Kimura (Oshiba Yusuke) gives up on baseball and joins the yakuza, Yukio (Takaoka Sosuke) murders fellow member Ota (Yamazaki Yuta) by repeatedly stabbing him in a toilet stall and is then taken away by the police. Then Leo (Yamanaka Rei) openly challenges Kujo's authority and Kujo would have ignored him if it were not for Aoki's prodding; his friend perceiving all too clearly that this would be the end of the one valuable thing in his life.

The wages of challenging the system	The new and worsened Aoki

The challenge is defeated but it causes a rupture between Aoki and Kujo, who ignores his friend's earnest attempt to apologize and seek reconciliation. Instead, Kujo pays no attention to his surroundings and causes Aoki to explode. The next day, Aoki reappears as a new man. Sporting a new haircut and flanked by two stooges, he is here to wrest control from Kujo and establish himself as the top dog. He unleashes an orgy of violence. With Kujo unwilling to grant him the clapping contest, Aoki embarks on a rebellion from below. The campaign of terror eventually leads to a confrontation between the two former friends. But it ends by making it abundantly clear that Aoki cannot overcome Kujo's authority over him. Despite his vicious but earnest trying, he cannot come out from Kujo's shadow.

Is he your friend...	...or ex-friend?

The shadow motif is very prominent. The first establishing shot of the gang is immediately followed by the camera dwelling on their shadows. Kujo then draws a black shadowy figure on his desk and refuses to tell Aoki what it is. Eventually Aoki comes to realize that it is a representation of Kujo's inner demon and he takes it as the symbol of Kujo's authority, a shadow he casts on his friend. Having realized that he cannot defeat Kujo, Aoki goes off the deep end. The school's graffiti darken, he spray-paints entire rooms, down to ping-pong balls. Finally, he climbs on the school's roof and spends the night looking out to the uninviting busy cityscape. (The time-lapse shot is absolutely stunning. It must have taken fairly painstaking work to get Aoki to resume the same position at appropriate intervals.)

Aoki standing in Kujo's shadow	School is Hell

When Kujo arrives to school the next day, he immediately perceives it as being painted all black. Although the illusion passes, he wakes up to the fact that Aoki has managed to turn into Hell and he is about to complete his mission: committing suicide is his way of getting through to Kujo and making his existence painful rather than abstract and unconcerned. The bruised friendship awakens in Kujo and he races to the top of the building only to see Aoki plunge to his death in a final act of defiance and revenge. As he turns away from the scene of the bleeding Aoki down below, Kujo sees the spray-paint reproduction of his inner demon: let loose now, his shadow will dominate Kujo in turn.

Aoki: thirteen claps	Kujo standing in Kujo's shadow

Although not nearly as full of impact as Fukasaku's Battle Royale, Toyoda's film is an engaging and thoughtful foray into the familiar terrain of youthful haplessness that seems to be one territory that many Japanese film-makers feel compelled to tread. Stylistically, the film is quite arresting, and the visuals are a sight to behold. Despite the extensive violence inherent in the story, Toyoda puts it all off screen, and the film comes out as more stylized than an in-your-face assault on the senses. Somewhat uncharacteristically for the genre, the film does not betray its manga origins (by Matsumoto Taiyo). An overall impressive second outing by director Toyoda that offers a rewarding viewing experience.

The Artsmagic DVD presents the film in a brilliant anamorphic widescreen with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles. For a film where the visuals make half the story it is important that the picture does them justice, and the DVD delivers the goods here. The extras include two interviews with Toyoda, fairly informative bio/filmographies of the stars, and a pretty entertaining feature-length commentary by Tom Mes, the British writer who seems to have amassed more knowledge on Japanese film than Donald Richie (if such a thing is even possible).

I have to mention that I am particularly grateful for one of the interviews where Toyoda mentions the Japanese band that does some of the best songs in the film. Its name is Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (don't ask, I don't know) and three of its albums have now been released States-side. The best song, The Redhead Kelly is on their 2001 album Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter, along with the others. This particular album is also highly recommended.

The US version of this excellent DVD is available from ArtsMagic.

June 25, 2004