Casshern

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Casshern
Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya
Written by Kazuaki Kiriya
Starring Yusuke Iseya
Kumiko Aso
Toshiaki Karasawa
Mayumi Sada
Jun Kaname
Susumu Terajima
Akira Terao
Tatsuya Mihashi
Music by Shiro Sagisu
Cinematography Kazuaki Kiriya
Editing by Kazuaki Kiriya
Distributed by Shochiku
Release date(s) April 24, 2004 (Japan)
April 25, 2005 (UK)
October 26, 2005 (France)
July 14, 2006 (Italy)
Running time 141 min./USA:117 min.
Country Flag of Japan Japan
Language Japanese
Budget $6,000,000 US
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Casshern (キャシャーン Kyashān?) is a 2004 Japanese tokusatsu superhero film written and directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. It stars Yusuke Iseya as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern, Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki, Toshiaki Karasawa as Burai, Mayumi Sada as Saguree, and Jun Kaname as Barashin.


Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie opens with a narration stating there has been a fifty-year war consisting of the Eastern Federation against Europa using an array of different weapons: Nuclear, biological and chemical, which have heavily polluted the environment. A photoshoot follows, introducing Tetsuya, his father Dr. Azuma, Tetsuya's fiancée Luna, her father Dr. Kozuki, and Tetsuya's mother Midori. Tetsuya is in the war to spite his father; Dr. Azuma is a lead scientist to the Eastern Federation's new dictatorship government, and in a presentation towards investors he reveals that he has discovered Neo Cells, human cells that can form any body part and be transplanted without rejection. These are only found in an initially undisclosed ethnic group, but with the right funding, Azuma hopes to cure his wife, whose health is rapidly deteriorating due to a pollution-related illness. The council quickly dismisses Dr. Azuma's claims, however, a military adviser named Naito comes to Azuma and offers him the sponsorship he requires for his research and the development of his Neo Cells.

While walking away from a fight on the battlefield, Tetsuya hears a child's cry and pulls the child from the arms of its deceased mother. It transpires that the infant is booby-trapped, as the deceased mother is clutching a grenade with the pin seemingly connected to the child. The pin is released when Tetsuya lifts the child, but the ensuing explosion is unseen. In the next scene, Midori, now blind, is in her garden with an assistant, and while she checks outside for visitors, it appears she is visited by Tetsuya's ghost. Dr. Azuma, in the presence of Dr. Kozuki, receives a call informing him of his son's death.

Soon after, disaster in the form of a giant stone-based, mechanical lightning bolt plummets from the sky, crashing through the roof of the research building and into the pool of Neo-Cells that Dr. Azuma is researching. This causes the organs in the culture to combine into "Neo-sapiens". They're instantly slaughtered by the government, with a select few escaping. The passengers traveling with Midori are killed by the soldier's frenzy, while Midori is abducted by the leader of the Neo-sapiens, Burai. The surviving Neo-sapiens venture into the frozen wilderness, and discover a long abandoned castle, which holds an army of dormant robots. The Neo-Sapiens reactivate the army and vow revenge for their rejection by the humans.

Meanwhile, as the incident has occurred on the day when Tetsuya's corpse is returned to his family, Dr. Azuma carries his son's body and submerges him in the pool of Neo Cells. He is then resurrected as a superhuman, but his condition is unstable, and he is brought to Kozuki's residence to be treated. Kozuki, a molecular engineer, had been working on advanced battle armour, which he then uses to stabilise Tetsuya. Kozuki's residence comes under attack by the Neo-sapiens, who are seeking out scientists to contribute to their war effort, and Tetsuya, who is still being treated in a life support chamber, is awoken in the ensuing chaos. He kills a female Neo-sapien, Saguree, and Kozuki is killed in the attack, but not before brooding on Tetsuya's unfortunate existence and pondering his fate. Upon escaping, Tetsuya fights the lead Neo-sapien, Burai, after destroying a number of the robots. Tetsuya is knocked out temporarily; when he comes to, he and Luna escape to a place called Zone Seven, but the route is hazardous due to heavy radioactive contamination, and Luna falls ill.

Tetsuya is found in the forest by a doctor and led to a nearby village in Zone Seven, where the doctor treats Luna. It is revealed the people of Zone Seven aren't terrorists at all, but have been experimented on and slaughtered for decades because of the Government's discriminatory policies. The doctor, in conversation, informs Tetsuya of a local legend of a protective deity named "Casshern". A statue of the deity was shown repeatedly in earlier scenes, missing one arm that used to hold a huge lightning bolt. Tetsuya fights Barashin as the village comes under attack by the military and Neo-sapiens, and it is here that he first refers to himself as Casshern. While both suffer injuries in the fight, Barashin is killed. Fighting Barashin has caused Tetsuya to lose Luna, who ran off with a Neo-sapien and eventually found her way to a train full of captured villagers from Zone Seven. Here, Luna and the Neo-sapien are confronted by a bereaved scientist who blames the Neo-sapiens for the loss of his daughter, but they are then rescued by Azuma.

A coup d’état takes place and General Kamijo's son takes over, while Naito reveals that Neo Cells are not what they seem. Dr. Azuma's research was actually a complete failure, and the Neo Cell pool did not in fact create the Neo-Sapiens. It simply rejoined and resurrected the body parts that were harvested from the butchered "original humans" of Zone Seven after being struck by the stone lightning bolt. Even though Dr. Azuma had been spearheading the unethical experiments, he is unable to explain what has happened. Burai arrives with an airship and abducts Luna, Casshern, and the Neo-sapien, leaving a now fatally wounded Naito, Dr. Azuma and Chairman's son alone. Burai gives his reasons for hating humanity, and Casshern finds his mother, but she's apparently dead. Burai launches a giant machine that appears to be set to self-destruct, which slaughters countless soldiers. Casshern uses all his strength to stop the machine, although it still detonates, albeit away from any urban or heavily populated area.

In the finale, the General's son kills Burai with a grenade after revealing he was human all along, and it is learned that Tetsuya, during his military service, slaughtered Burai's family. Casshern stops his father from resurrecting his mother, so Dr. Azuma retaliates by shooting Luna in the head. Luna is revived by the blood of Burai, only after Casshern kills his father. Casshern and Luna embrace each other, and Luna rips out Tetsuya's containment suit. The screen goes white, and then shows all of the dead souls gather to eventually be reborn in another life.

The film ends with home footage of the characters in happier times.

[edit] Production

The film is based on a 1973 anime television series, Shinzō Ningen Kyashān (translated as "Neo-Human Casshern" and known as just Casshan in the United States) from animation studio Tatsunoko Productions. Along with contemporary films Able Edwards, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Immortal, and Sin City, it was among the first feature-length live action films to be shot on a digital backlot, with the actors performing in front of a greenscreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact.

As well as being influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet, director Kazuaki Kiriya states that he drew upon Russian Avant Garde for visual inspiration[1].

Accoding to Kiriya, in an interview with Joblo, it took 2 months to shoot the film and a further 6 months of post-production work [2]. The film's look was achieved through a combination of means, from CGI, matte paintings to even Kiriya's heavy involvement with the cinematography[3].

The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack (Dolby Digital 5.1 on the PAL Region 2 release[citation needed]) and English subtitles.

The theme song, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", was written and sung by the director's then wife, Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada.

[edit] Reception

Casshern debuted on April 24th, premiering in fifth place with a total gross of $1,530,216 U.S.D in 181 theaters. Staying within the top ten for five weeks, the film went on to make under $13 million. The production cost was estimated at $6 million.

On Rotten Tomatoes Casshern has acquired an overall approval rating of 57% from 7 reviews by critics [4]. Empire gave it 3 out of possible 5 stars and described it as "flawed and messy, but a hell of a looker"[5] while IGN reviewer, Hock Teh, gave the recent American DVD release 8 out of 10 stating that "without any doubt, Casshern is a compelling piece of filmmaking"[6]. Variety reviewer Derek Elley notes that while not entirely original in its content, its execution and inventiveness are impressive[7].

The DVD received an official Region 1 Release on October 16th 2007 and can be seen Here on Amazon.com. The US release is a full 24 minutes shorter than the original. It features both a Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo Japanese soundtrack, as well as English subtitles. The subtitles are almost universally criticized by fans for being enormously incomplete. On several occasions they are lacking entirely; when they do appear they often completely differ from the dialogue or oversimplify it to such a degree that key plot elements and the overall force of the story are diminished.


[edit] Cast

[edit] External links