The Mystery of Rampo
by Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Rintaro Mayuzumi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Masahiro Motoki, Michiko Hada, Mikijiro Hira, Naoto Takenaka, Teruyuki KagawaDirector: Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Rintaro Mayuzumi
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Producer: Kazuyoshi Okuyama
Writer: Kazuyoshi Okuyama
Producer: Yoshihisa Nakagawa
Producer: Yoshinobu Nishioka
Writer: Rampo Edogawa
Writer: Yuhei Enoki
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Mystery of Rampo
Movie Review: Real Unreality and Unreal Reality
Summary: 5 Stars
The film was motivated by the writings of Edogawa Rampo (1894-1965) - a play on the name of Edgar Allan Poe. Rampo was a controversial Japanese thriller author whose work was often banned in the 1930s - which play themselves out in the movie and starts the tale off. The author was often compared to Edgar Allan Poe - for conjuring up the very same types of gothic imagery. In this movie, fantasy merges with reality in this mystery cum thriller. A woman has murdered her husband in a manner very similar to a killing depicted in an "unpublished" work of Rampo's. The irony is that the government has banned the novel of the same subject. In line with the fusion of reality cum fantasy upon meeting the killer, the writer is astonished to observe that she also bears an eerie physical similitude to the character that emanated from his mind's eye. The author/character Rampo soon becomes so fixated with her that he subsequently re-creates her as the woman a protagonist in his new novel. Often moving from one realm to the other and driving the lives of both fictional and real characters. However, complications develop when Rampo starts situating himself within the fictional realm/world he created. Before long, and this is where the genius of the movie really lies, that it is tricky for him - and the viewer - to figure out the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Michiko Hada is stunning in her portrayal of gothic damsel in distress. Beauty and the Beast never looked so good.
Miguel Llora
Summary of The Mystery of Rampo
Hailed by critics around the world this "exciting and impressive." (Variety) tale of love and obsession based on the writings of Rampo Edogawa Japan's answer to Edgar Allan Poe is "an astonishing first-rate achievement on all fronts Not to be missed" (Boxoffice)!Although Rampo is the literary toast of Japan the government has banned his latest manuscript: a dark tale about a woman who suffocates her husband inside a hope chest. And when a local man is murdered by his wife in the same manner Rampo becomes obsessed with her and embarks on a quest to unlock the truth about the crime. But as he traverses the line between his fantasy and her reality is Rampo really trying to save the woman of his dreams or simply destroying the fragile shell of his own sanity?Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: NR UPC: 027616902306 Manufacturer No: 1006001Similar DVD Movies
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