HARMONIUM / BRINK ON TO STAND (Lit) (FUCHI NI TATSU). Viewed on DVD. A harmonium is a small pump organ and (as seen in this film) powered by foot-operated bellows. Director Koji Fukada (also credited as writer) offers up a creepy, dramatic tragedy about a sociopath bent on revenge by destroying (literally) a family that seems on the verge of self destruction and just needs a bit of a push to get there. About 20 years ago, two Yakuza foot soldiers carried out a murder; only one took the fall (claiming he acted alone) and emerges from prison to now prey on his fellow killer; the latter has married, fathered a talented pre-teen daughter, and created a successful family manufacturing business (outside of Tokyo); under threat of telling the police what actually happened (and ruining the reputation of the business), the convict starts working in (and running) the business, moves in with the family, seduces the wife (who is starting to wise up and becoming increasingly distant from her husband), tries to kill the daughter (brain damage from his botched attack reduces her to a vegetative state), manages to elude the police, and disappears until a private detective finally discovers his whereabouts some eight years later. During this interval, the wife and husband have grown to despise each other, their brain-dead daughter, and themselves. What happens next and how the film ends is hard to tell (see below). Fukada's clever script and taut direction also builds/retains suspense using the time-honored plot device of gradually revealing what is (and has) been going on in banana-peeling fashion as well as informing the viewer ahead of the characters about things to come (very Hitchcockian!). The Director jumps into the world of fantasy at the movie's end involving visions of the sociopath amidst laundry line bed sheets on a roof top; drowning or not of most of the cast in a river; underwater shots showing the daughter fully recovering her faculties; etc. Poor on-set script rewrites or bad editing or both?! Lead actor Tadanobu Asano delivers an excellent performance playing the sociopath who is tall, menacing, and just plain scary in white and wearing a buttoned-up dress shirt. Kanji Furutachi superbly plays the unpunished killer, husband, and father. Other cast members are also well directed. There are large digital video artifacts in dark scenes and fade outs. Interior shots are often under lit. So are a few exterior ones. Cinematography includes jerky running shots. Subtitles are close enough with song lyrics translated and some closing credits translated into English and French. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD. Details: direction = 7/8 stars; performances = 7/8 stars; subtitles = 5/6 stars. DCP = 5 stars; cinematography (semi-wide screen, color) = 5 stars; lighting = 4/5 stars.
Review of Harmonium
