The desire to be eternally beautiful—and eternally relevant—in the modelling world is the subject of Ninagawa’s exuberant and darkly ironic sophomore feature.
Review #2,827
Dir. Mika Ninagawa
2012 | Japan | Drama | 127 min | 1.85:1 | Japanese
R21 (passed clean) for sexual scenes
Cast: Erika Sawajiri, Nao Omori, Shinobu Terajima, Go Ayano, Kiko Mizuhara
Plot: Top star Lilico undergoes multiple cosmetic surgeries to her entire body. As her surgeries show side effects, Lilico makes the lives of those around her miserable as she tries to deal with her career and her personal problems.
Awards: –
Source: Asmik Ace
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Mature – Celebrity Culture; Objectification of Women; Psychological Issues
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: Oldham Theatre (as part of Asian Film Archive’s ‘Divine’ programme)
Spoilers: No
A sophomore feature by Mika Ninagawa of Sakuran (2006), Helter Skelter is an exceptional adaptation of the manga of the same name about the perils of celebrity culture, and much like, say, Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue (1997), it is also very psychological, and at times, psychedelic.
I was hooked from the first minute as a barrage of sounds and images assaulted my senses. But while the film did sometimes feel a tad elongated with perhaps closing with one ‘ending’ too many, it is ultimately an insightful take on the implications of extreme fame.
The desire to be eternally beautiful—and eternally relevant—in the modelling world leads Lilico (Erika Sawajiri in a no-holds-barred performance) to attain perfection through cosmetic surgeries of her entire body, but when the clinic that she regularly visits becomes the target of a police investigation, she becomes embroiled in a scandal that threatens to obliterate her valuable image.
“We are machines for the processing of desires.”
Bursting with an assortment of colours that match the film’s exuberant style, Helter Skelter sees Ninagawa, a renowned photographer with a penchant for brightly-coloured aesthetics, question the selfish extremes that one takes to preserve oneself.
In several sequences powered by the divine if counterpointing qualities of iconic classical music (notably a sung version in Japanese of Pachelbel’s ‘Canon’), Helter Skelter elevates itself from being just a stylistic exercise; it trivialises the quest for the perfect image which is merely temporary in a bustling world of newer attractions.
Lilico ultimately fails to be human even when she is overwhelmed by human emotions. Look out for an extended cameo from Goddess Kiko Mizuhara, playing an up-and-coming model who sparks jealousy in Lilico, in what was then only her second feature film role after Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood (2010).
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 