The Black Lizard (1968)

The Black Lizard (Kurotokage) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, screen
adaptation by Yukio Mishima

The Black Lizard is a noir-ish detective story based on the novel of the same name by Rampo Edogawa. The film centers around the interactions of two strong characters; The Black Lizard, played by transvestite actor Akihiro Maruyama, an elegant gender-ambiguous criminal mastermind; and Akechi, Japan's best detective. When Akechi is hired by a wealthy jeweler who has been alerted to a plot to kidnap his daughter, a battle of wits between Black Lizard and Akechi begins. Over the course of the film both parties develop a mutual appreciation and respect for the other. In the interims between the almost erotic mental battles these two engage in there is plenty of time for treachery, crime, plot twists, false identities, lavish set design, and flowery language.

This movie is similar to other Japanese crime films of it's time in that it is unabashedly stylish and saturated with bravado(Tokyo Drifter, Lady Snowblood, etc..) but the subject matter and it's treatment are unique. The gender-ambiguous title character is only the icing on the cake; the really interesting moments in this film draw their power from the sexualized battle of wits, to the death, enacted by our protagonist and the title character. Although predatory, their relationship develops into something overwhelming intimate and undeniably sexual.

The Black Lizard, although the villain, comes through as the most developed character in the film despite being the most reprehensible. Her acts are almost unconscionable, and the extent of her evil gradually unfolds throughout the film, building up until the viewer finally reaches her headquarters, decorated with stolen jewels and the taxidermied corpses of her beautiful victims, posed at the Black Lizard's whim for eternity (um, sorry Gunther von Hagens, but that does seem pretty evil. I know, I know... it was for science.) But we identify with her. We feel her loneliness, sense her intense attraction to beauty and danger,to intellect, and her keen desire to be bested by Akechi. The love that went into crafting her character; her appearance, her cruelty, and her desire to be dominated; must trace back to Mishima's script. This is the character that he identifies most with, and the power of his fantasy makes this callous, shallow, criminal highly empathetic.

I watched this film because I find Mishima intensely interesting, and got even more than I bargained for. Sets, lighting, costumes and acting are all spot-on. Subject matter is overblown (in the best possible sense of that word)outrageous and fantastic (in the original sense of that word). I'd be interested to read the novel and see how and where Mishima's influence really shaped the telling of this story; the dialogue is clearly representative of his tendency towards imagery, and the plot and characters themselves reek of his particular ability to sexualize death. It would be interesting to see where inspiration left off and deeply personal ideas and aesthetics took over.

Recommended viewing


Available for download from cinema obscura, previously secret cinema (http://www.cinema-obscura.com/)