KOKESHI

A mysterious woman has lived since childhood with an unusual physical condition that makes her insensitive to pain. The only way for her to vent her anger and frustration is to atrociously torture young girls, with the complicity of a psychopathic man. One day, she kidnaps a young Japanese student, but she doesn't know that the latter will unleash an ancient and terrifying curse on her... After his participation in the anthology "17 at Midnight" with the segment "Holdouts", Paolo Del Fiol ventures into the realization of this short film included in the two-episode work "Connections". Following the release of the latter, the Lombard director dedicated himself to a long and meticulous work of remastering the film, enriching it with an excellent musical score and making various improvements. "Kokeshi" (the term indicates a type of traditional Japanese dolls) could be defined as a sort of conceptual and stylistic continuation of the artistic discourse undertaken by the director at his beginnings, but with greater confidence and mastery of means. Unlike his previous projects, Del Fiol has a rather substantial running time that allows him to build a more structured story and with more diverse contaminations: from torture porn, to splatter/gore, to j-horror, painting a broad canvas, but always tinged with red. The Italian filmmaker, always passionate about Eastern culture, exploits the horrific Japanese imagination – with cursed fetishes and spirits thirsty for revenge –, making it in fact a leitmotif. Fascinating, but perhaps also counterproductive: what suffers most is the screenplay that does not offer "fresh" points but resorts to rather predictable themes. To compensate for the lack of originality – an ingredient not fundamental in a genre as inflated as horror – is the aesthetic structure of the product that appears overall very solid thanks to the development of attractive and elegant visual solutions, which skillfully accompany both the atmospheric moments and the most efferate ones. The photography, refined and sophisticated, accentuates the macabre tones of the film through a chromatic contrast that shifts to warm red tones during the most bloodiest passages, creating a suggestive and sinister setting. The vigilant eye of the camera, for the joy of the most intransigent viewers, does not spare splatter details that represent the strong point of the film: the special effects – by Davide Pesca – are excellently made and have a great impact in some particularly crude sequences. The dark-ambient style music, composed by Antony Coia, perfectly matches the images, sharpening the almost dramatic tone of the most cruel passages. In the end, what is staged is precisely the existential discomfort of the protagonist, who lives her inability to feel pain as a handicap. The acting – sometimes a bit wooden – is not memorable and somewhat undermines the credibility of the characters. Certainly to be appreciated is the evident artistic growth of Del Fiol who, supported by a team of valid professionals, gives life to an honest product destined not to go unnoticed in the chaos of the Italian indie scene. It would be interesting to see the director at work in a feature film, perhaps setting aside the Japanese ghosts for once; for now, let's settle for these impitoyably succulent morsels that certainly will not disappoint the most extreme palates. Review originally published on the blog M'illumino di Horror