Closed Ward

Shot in a straightforward, classical style sans frills, "Closed Ward" is a low key psychological drama supposedly centered on a teenage rape victim that's curiously uninvolving at every level. First feature by 49-year-old documaker Susumu Fukahara doesn't look like it will break far out of hospital grounds.

Shot in a straightforward, classical style sans frills, "Closed Ward" is a low key psychological drama supposedly centered on a teenage rape victim that's curiously uninvolving at every level. First feature by 49-year-old documaker Susumu Fukahara doesn't look like it will break far out of hospital grounds.

Shot in a straightforward, classical style sans frills, “Closed Ward” is a low key psychological drama supposedly centered on a teenage rape victim that’s curiously uninvolving at every level. First feature by 49-year-old documaker Susumu Fukahara doesn’t look like it will break far out of hospital grounds.

Script, drawn from a novel, has an ungainly structure in which information about the characters is parceled out every which way and even the young protag, Yuki (Saki Kamiryo), flits in and out of dramatic focus. Raped by her stepfather, she takes refuge in a rural, lakeside mental hospital, where the other inmates’ stories take on equal dramatic weight: kindly Chuya, who writes play scripts; the retarded Shohachi, who snaps everything with his camera; Kuro, a tall schizophrenic; venerable Hidemaru, studying calligraphy; and beefy drug addict Shigemune, who also rapes the poor girl. Performances are solid enough but there’s really not much happening, and pic limps to a close with a final reel that laboriously recapitulates resolved events. The Delian-like chamber score is particularly unsuitable.

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Closed Ward

Japan

  • Production: A Yee-Ha Films production. (International sales: Yee-Ha, Tokyo.) Produced by Masayuki Takubo. Directed by Susumu Fukahara. Screenplay, Toshiro Ishido, Yuichiro Nishimura, based on a novel by Housei Hahakigi.
  • Crew: Camera (color), Noritaka Sakamoto; editors, Junichi Kikuchi, Kunihiko Ukai; music, Shinichiro Ikebe; art director, Takeo Kimura. Reviewed at World Film Festival, Montreal (World Cinema), Sept. 3, 2000. Original title: Inochi no umi. Running time: 102 MIN.
  • With: With: Saki Kamiryo, Yoshitaka Zushi, Yasufumi Hayashi, Katsuo Nakamura, Rikiya Yasuoka, Junko Miyashita, Ineko Arima, Morio Kazama, Takehiro Murata.

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