Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Kotoko Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 8, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto.

There are two names which American film fans may need either outright introductions to or at least reminders about when coming to Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto. The first name is that of Shinya Tsukamoto himself, a fascinating cult figure with a rather long and impressive filmography as a producer, director, actor, writer, editor, cinematographer, production designer and art director (one assumes if the IMDb had a tab for craft services contributions, he'd be listed there, too), but who is still kind of curiously unknown by the general public at large on this side of the pond. The other name that may come into play with regard to this handsome new set released for the North American market by Arrow is Third Window Films, a label that releases Blu-rays in the United Kingdom and which has in fact put out previous editions of several of the Tsukamoto films Arrow has included in this set. For that reason, fans or at least those interested in “comparison studies” are encouraged to visit our listings for the Third Window Films’ releases of Tetsuo: The Iron Man / Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, Tokyo Fist, Bullet Ballet, A Snake of June, and Kotoko, not just for Svet Atanasov’s thoughts about each of the films, but also to be able to do side by side looks at screenshots as well as to size up supplemental features on each release. (A sixth film offered in this set from Arrow, The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo, looks like it's included as a supplement on Third Windows' double feature offering the two Tetsuo films.) The Arrow set does at least offer ten films in one nicely aggregated and designed package which includes a rather beautiful hardback book, which may at least recommend the set to those trying to save a little shelf space, if nothing else.

Kotoko is one of the more fascinating films in Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto for a number of reasons, not the least of which this is a collaboration between Tsukamoto and star Cocco, who not only portrays the title character, but who also co-wrote, provided the music (including quite a bit of sung material as befits Cocco's life as a pop star in Japan) and art direction (the two probably had an arm wrestling match to see who would handle craft services in this particular instance). Cocco evidently had some mental health problems which were at least somewhat well known in Japan, but less so on this side of the pond (where I sense even Cocco's musical career may not be all that well recognized). Those elements are woven into a disturbing tale of Kotoko, a young mother who has a debilitating condition where she "sees double", albeit not in the way most people use that phrase. Kotoko often sees what might be thought of as demonic "versions" of people who are really there in her life at any given moment, and she is having an increasingly hard time differentiating between what is real and what is hallucination. That has led her to regular self harm courtesy of a razor blade, since slicing her skin at least convinces her that what she's experiencing is real and not a hallucination.

Cocco's habit of singing out loud on public buses ultimately leads her into the path of Tanaka (Shinya Tsukamoto), a popular writer who is entranced by her voice and who starts following her, leading of course to a number of paranoid reactions from the mentally unbalanced woman. Suffice it to say the two ultimately end up as a kinda sorta couple, though the relationship is fraught with physical horror. Playing into all of this is Cocco's other relationship, with her son, one that is also being endangered by her increasing bouts of mental illness.

While there certainly are some of the same graphic elements at play in Kotoko as in some earlier Tsukamoto films, what's rather fascinating about this entry is how Tsukamoto and Cocco are able to work up considerable angst based solely on depictions of what's going on inside the mind of a fragile, emotionally wrecked young woman. While completely different in both style and tone, this very approach may bring to mind such iconic films as Bergman's Persona.

Kotoko Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kotoko is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While the back cover of this release talks about Tsukamoto "embracing digital filmmaking" with this outing and Killing, it unfortunately doesn't get into any actual technical detail, something echoed by the IMDb. I did find a couple of sites (in foreign languages) which seem to suggest an Arri Alexa may have been used, with things finished at a 2K DI, but I'm frankly not sure that what I found could be accepted as "authoritative". All of that said, this is a really nicely vivid, sharp and well detailed looking presentation almost all of the time. The film's prevalence of outdoor material helps to support nice fine detail levels, and the palette is considerably more natural looking than in some of Tsukamoto's other "blue period" films (that's a joke, in case it isn't clear). There's still some passing murk in some dimly lit interior scenes, and occasionally contrast can look a little anemic, leading to a slightly hazy appearance. There are just a couple of very brief flirtations with banding, typically against brighter backgrounds where lighting conditions abruptly change.

Kotoko Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kotoko features a really expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Tsukamoto's visual aesthetic is so overwhelming at times that even his very inventive sound design can sometimes fade into the background, figuratively speaking, even when it's completely hyperbolic, but Kotoko finds a nice balance where the audio side of things can be just as important as the visual. That's evident from the get go in the opening scene which takes place at a beach and which begins with calming ethnic music (it sounds like a shakuhachi to me) and the roar of ocean waves which just suddenly erupts into loud anguished screaming by a woman. Over and over again, the sound design here does the equivalent of a "jump cut" between anachronistic elements and it's often quite bracing. The surround channels are regularly engaged, and dialogue as well as Cocco's musical contributions are presented with excellent fidelity and depth.

Kotoko Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As can be seen in the last screenshot accompanying this review, this disc offers two films. I'm listing all of the supplements on the disc, since while some supplements are ostensibly specific to one feature, there's still a certain amount of spillover.

• Audio Commentary on Kotoko by Tom Mes


• Audio Commentary on Killing by Tom Mes


• Japanese Cinema's Provocateur Extraordinaire (1080p; 47:59) is a fantastic newly done career spanning retrospective with Shinya Tsukamoto. Like some of the archival interviews, this features interstitial text questions follwed by Tsukamoto's answers. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Archival Interview with Shinya Tsukamoto (1080p; 21:48) focuses on Kotoko , and like most of the other archival interivews in this set, has interstitial text questions followed by Tsukamoto's answers. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Trailers

  Kotoko UK Trailer (1080p; 2:01)

  
  

  Killing Original Japanese Trailer (1080p; 1:45)

• Image Galleries

  Kotoko (1080p; 4:10)

  
  

  Killing (1080p; 1:30)

Kotoko Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I mentioned in the Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray review is how this set makes very clear the kinds of growth Tsukamoto has shown over the course of his career, and one of those evolutionary steps has been how Tsukamoto has been able to document more of an "interior" horrorscape that is still as frightening as some of the "external" depictions in his early films. This is an often sad and bittersweet tale, but it's told with a visceral style and impact. Technical merits are solid, and the supplemental package appealing. Recommended.