HORROR DVD/BLU-RAY REVIEWS

Title character, Sabu (Satoshi Tsumabuki) tries to discover who is responsible for the wrongful imprisonment of longtime friend Eiji (Tatsuya Fukiwara) before the prison island he’s been sent to consumes him.

Takashi Miike is a mystery to me. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t get him or that his films are in anyway unapproachable; the man merely remains a mystery because I’m just not that familiar with his work. Sure I’ve seen the requisite Miike films fans have clamored about for years (Audition and Ichi the Killer most notably) and I’m well informed on the whole Imprint debacle over at Showtime's Masters of Horror camp, but other than that…I’m as virgin as Mary herself when it comes to having a defined knowledge of Miike’s work. It is with this limited knowledge, and without any sort of baggage, that I sat down to watch Miike’s 2002 made-for- (Japanese) television film, Sabu.

Compared to what I’ve seen of his work, and what that work usually encompass (Hyper-violence, psycho-sexuality and uber-weirdness abound), Sabu comes across as a little light; if not deflated. While it is certainly a well produced film, especially for television standards, Sabu fell a few hairs shy of holding my interest for its entire 122 minutes. Set during the Tokugawa Era (to all us round-eyes that’s the age of the Samurai), I was half expecting some twisted variation on a Kurosawa film. To my disappointment, that film never materialized. Instead, what I got was a slow-moving and oft-times downright boring morality tale. On the plus side, it was a gorgeous film to sit and stare at thanks to Miike’s usual go-to-guy, Cinematographer Hideo Yamamoto. Miike also shows himself to be quite capable of producing a film that doesn’t rely on insane levels of bloodshed, bondage or body-modification as it’s driving narrative…though it certainly would have been welcome.

VIDEO: A very respectable 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer shows off Hideo Yamamoto’s camera skills nicely.

AUDIO: A decent Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Sabu is a decidedly talky film, so the back channels don’t get too-much of a workout. That said the mix is fine enough

I can order anything at a sushi restaurant with practiced perfection…but I still can’t understand a single word of Japanese. Luckily, this DVD comes equipped with subtitles.

The Making of Sabu: This is a decent little 21 minute making-of piece that manages to entertain and, to a certain degree, enlighten the viewer to some of the more complex meanings behind Sabu’s storyline.

Interview with Takashi Miike #1: Miike spends 9 minutes providing us with his opinion on the filmmaking process.

Interview with Takashi Miike #2: Miike spends an additional 2 minutes providing us with his opinion on the filmmaking process.

Interview with Sabu’s male leads: Tatsuya Fujiwara and Satoshi Tsumabuki chat about making Sabu and what it’s like to work with a filmmaker of Miike’s prowess.

Interview with Sabu’s female leads: Omoko Tabata and Kazue Fukiishi do pretty much the same thing the guy’s did in the last section of the special features.

The rest of the disc is rounded out by the original television and theatrical trailer for Sabu as well as biographies and filmographies for Miike and his stars.

After seeing Sabu I can honestly say I am no more a fan of Miike’s work than I was the day before I watched it. It’s a fine film that should have little trouble finding an audience, especially amongst Miike completists.