The theme of Inugami overlaps that of an earlier film, Shikoku. Both films feature aging Shinto priestesses in rural mountain villages, grasping at old ways as their daughters try to break away from the unwanted fate of being the next woman in line to devote her life to backward-looking magic & ritual.
Both films assume there is a little madness in any woman who has devoted her entire life to the priestess role, & might be willing to do great harm if they perceive their ancient way of life as ending with their generation. Both films seem to be told from the perspective of "sophisticated" storytellers who are pretty certain religion is stupid & so assume the Shinto religion belongs to hicks & loonies.
And both films assume there is nevertheless something to the magic. Shinkoku is the most overtly supernatural story, though Inugami is eventually fairly explicit that without a priestess guardian against the dark side, things unwanted might seep into the living world.
The supernatural element of Inugami is muted; it could almost pass as a non-fantastic film about the strangeness & beauty & menace of life in a mountain village.
The mythic component is barely overt enough to be as interesting as the setting & the characters, but does add a poetic note of magic realism. I found the incest creepier than the curse, & the harmful menacing gossipiness of neighbors scarier than some alleged god-dog.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
|
