Portrait Of Hell 69'

[Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

This enjoyable film was directed by Toyoda Shiro (someone I'm not too familiar with) and written by Akutagawa Ryunnosuke (Rashomon). Starring; Tatsuya Nakadai (Swood Of Doom) and Nakamura Kinnosuke (Samurai Banners) who work very well off one anothers characters.

Tatasuya is a famous korean painter (Yoshihide) who is living in Japan, has a painting school, and is commissioned by the Paramount Lord to paint for him at his whim. Tatsuya's character is very eccentric about his work, and insists on painting only what he has experienced or seen, much to the dismay of the lavish Paramount Lord surrounded by his citizen's in abject poverty.

Tatsuya's daughter (Yoshika) falls in love with one of his students (Hiromi). This affair is condemned by Tatsuya and he locks his daughter in the downstairs of their dwelling. She escapes (her pet monkey lets her out) and immediately searches for Hiromi. This eventually brings her to Paramount Lords residence, who upon first seeing her, desires to possess her. When Tatsuya learns of this he admonishes Paramount Lord to return her to him, but his daughter has told her story to him, and Paramount Lord uses this as an excuse to retain her for her own good as well as though it should be an honor for them both. This starts a downward spiral for Tatsuya, the artist.

Meanwhile, Hiromi happens upon a masked bandit and is inspired to join him. Eventually they raid the village with intention of infiltrating the Paramount Lords dwelling and assassinating him. They fail in this, Hiromi is mortally wounded, and Tatsuya comes across the dying man. This further perpetuates Tatsuya's unravelling mind.

Paramount Lord wishes for Tatsuya to paint the walls of some holy temple with magnificant scenes of beauty, but Tatsuya insists he cannot because everything around him is subject to so much suffering, as though this was hell and he (Paramount Lord) were the devil, and this is what he'd prefer to paint on the temple walls. This further enrages Paramount Lord, who begins to scheme cruel endeavors for Tatsuya and his suggestions, the most abhorrent of which was the vision Tatsuya describes of Paramount Lord descending into the flames of hell in a chariot streaming with flames. He promises Tatsuya shall have his wish come true and he will contact him when all is ready.

Paramount Lord calls on Tatsuya and shows him the chariot to be burned, though not with him in it, but rather someone representing him. Unveiling the chariot reveals Tatsuya's daughter chained within. Paramount Lord tries to coerce Tatsuya into painting beauty on the walls of the temple if his daughter were to be spared. Tatsuya calls him on what he believes a bluff and remains adamant about being a true artist. Paramount Lord then calls him on it and commands the conflagration of the chariot and its innocent victim. This scene is at first done somewhat theatrical, but then as the flames entirely engulf his daughter, the camera work captures a very realistic scene of Tatsuya's daughter's dead body, flames stretching from it in the blowing wind amidst an inferno of fire, which diminishes and increases blotting out then revealing his daughter's burning corpse. A very shocking scene horror fans will definitely appreciate. Nakamura does a great job of looking like he can't even believe he's done such a horrible deed.

Near the end Tatsuya has finished his Portrait Of Hell (he looks like he's completely insane by this point, understandably so) and is informing Paramount Lord the painting is ready for viewing. During this meeting Paramount Lord condemns Tatsuya for being so selfish and prejudice of his daughter's affairs and presents him with an urn filled with his daughter's ashes, reminding Tatsuya that, " see, I told you I'd return your daughter to you." Tatsuya then departs. Upon returning home some snow falls from the roof of his dwelling and he looks up in a strange way (this scene is highly significant considering what follows). Tatsuya's dead body is discovered (he hung himself) and is immediately reported to Paramount Lord who snaps back with "you fool he's sitting here with me now!" Then turning to address Tatsuya , who was just there an instant ago, realizes he's been remonstrating an apparition, excellent scene. He then, all discombobulated and shaken, goes to view this Portrait Of Hell. He then becomes transfixed by terror and finds himself drawn into the infernal masterpiece painted by the late, Tatsuya Nakadai. The snow falling from the roof scene is significant because he's supposedly a ghost at this point. Weird Tales style of story writing, pretty cool stuff, IMO.

The acting is excellent and the story is very well done. The film is shot in a little bit of a theatrical manner rather than raw realism. This dose'nt hamper the conviction of the film. This is very little fighting. The story is basically a statement to artists of any genre to always be true and keep it real. But in this scenario personal matters were handled incorrectly by the artist and things took a devastating turn.

This is an AnimEigo re-master taken from a new 35 mm print and the picture quality is pristine. The audio is fine. The subtitles are the usual standard for AnimEigo, but there are a few times when the dialogue between Tatsuya and Nakamura are colour coded and they miss coding Tatsuya's green subs in a few scenes.

Overall an enjoyable diversion from my preferred viewings of vintage martial arts and samurai films.

I think I'd rate it a 6/10

Stiil a must have for Tatsuya Nakadai fans.

[Guest Daisho2004]

I've heard this is a really good movie.