ZEZE Takahisa

(b. May 24, 1960)

瀬々敬久

Zeze first achieved notice as one of the Shitennō (“Four Devils”), a group of directors who attempted to transcend the exploitation format of “pink” cinema through formal experimentation and political engagement. His feature debut, Good Luck Japan (Kagai jugyō: Bōkō, 1989), focused on Taiwanese gangsters and Asian prostitutes living near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, while No Man’s Land (Waisetsu bōsō shūdan: Kedamono, 1991) set its story of urban alienation against the backdrop of constant media coverage of the Gulf War. Co-scripted by Shinji Aoyama, Zeze’s best-known “pink” film, The Dream of Garuda (Kōkyū sōpu tekunikku 4: Monzetsu higi, 1994), about a paroled criminal’s obsessive quest to find the woman he once raped, interspersed sex scenes with stylized dream sequences. Despite success in mainstream filmmaking, Zeze has not abandoned “pink,” considering it more amenable to experimentation. Tokyo X Erotica (Tōkyō X erotika, 2001) was a sensational story of a perverse love affair, while Gap in the Skin (Hada no sukima, 2005) charted a violent relationship between two criminals on the run. Zeze’s oblique narratives and overt symbolism were far from the “pink” norm, but the depth of his political engagement is questionable: the references in Tokyo X Erotica to major historical events (the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist attack) barely related to the drama, seeming pretentious in the absence of more detailed analysis.

Raigyo (Kuroi shitagi no onna: Raigyo, 1997), perhaps Zeze’s finest achievement, was based, like many of his films, on a real crime: the murder of a man by a woman he met through a telephone dating service. It was again sexually explicit, but art movie techniques won out over exploitation, immaculate long-shot compositions bringing conviction to the portrayal of a desolate environment where the only meaningful contact is violent. Another transitional work was the austere Dirty Maria (Kegareta Maria: Haitoku no hibi, 1998), about a taxi driver investigating his wife’s disappearance helped by the woman he does not know to be her murderer. By this time, Zeze had made his first true mainstream film, Kokkuri (Kokkuri-san, 1997), a conventional if agreeably understated horror film about schoolgirls using a ouija board. He has worked subsequently in a wide variety of genres: Dog Star (Doggu sutā, 2002) was a fantasy about a dog reincarnated in human form, while Rush! (2001) was an action comedy about a kidnapping.

Zeze’s mainstream works have intermittently attempted social criticism, his science fiction films touching, like Good Luck Japan, on the situation of immigrants in Japan and Japan’s relationship with its Asian neighbors. The parodic SF Whip Cream (SF hoippu kurīmu, 2002) interpreted the term “illegal alien” literally, detailing the experiences of an extra-terrestial deported to his home planet after being raised in Japan. Moon Child (2003), about a young gangster’s relationship with an immortal vampire, was set in a dystopian future in which a financial crash has led Japanese economic migrants to emigrate to China. Though incoherently plotted, it was eyecatchingly designed and slickly handled, and interestingly drew out the homoerotic undertones of the vampire myth. Having directed these eccentric takes on popular genres, Zeze made Si-sei 2 (Shisei: Ochita jorōgumo, 2007), another study of perverse sexuality, based on a Jun’ichirō Tanizaki story.

Zeze has proved an eclectic stylist, moving from the extreme austerity of Raigyo to the bizarre blend of artifice and pseudo-documentary in Secret Journey (Yuda, 2004). His method of narration is also experimental: Tokyo X Erotica unfolded in non-chronological order, while Rush!, according to Mark Schilling, “scrambled narrative logic to the point of total confusion.” This experimentation betrays a wide range of influences; Zeze admired radical documentarists Kazuo Hara and Shinsuke Ogawa and acknowledged the influence on SF Whip Cream of an obscure Russian science fiction comedy, Kin Dza-Dza (1986, Georgi Daneliya). Such surprising influences have resulted in a body of work which is undeniably offbeat, but budgetary limitations have often restricted Zeze’s technique, and it is debatable whether he has ever made a completely satisfactory film. His intransigence remains commendable.

NB: The commercial titles assigned to most of Zeze’s films on release in Japan differ from the director’s preferred titles, used when his films are shown at international festivals. I supply both where relevant, with the commercial title preceding the director’s title.

1977 Boku wa dare desu ka / Who Am I? (8mm short)

1978 Harō guddobai / Hello, Goodbye (8mm short)

1980 Semete kon’ya wa nemuritai / At Least Tonight I Want to Sleep (8mm short)

1981 Mai pēsu yua pēsu / My Pace, Your Pace (8mm short)

1982 Shōnenhan shibojō: Kunisada, Kyōto, Hinota / Private Longings: Boy’s Version: Kunisada, Kyoto, Hinota (8mm)

1983 Saka no ue no kazoku shashin / Family Photograph at the Top of the Slope (8mm)

1985 Gyangu yo: Mukō wa hareteiru ka / Gangster! Is It Brightening Over There? (16mm short)

1989 Kagai jugyō: Bōkō / Haneda ni itte mo soko ni wa kaizoku ni natta gakidomo ga ima ya to shuppatsu o matteiru / Extra-curricular Lesson: Assault / Go to Haneda and You Will See Kids Dressed Like Pirates Waiting to Depart / Good Luck Japan

Jūyokuma: Rangyō / Aozora / Demon of Lust: Debauchery / Blue Sky

1990 Chikan densha: Rie no fundoshi / Coconut Crush / Molestor Train: Rie’s Loincloth / Coconut Crush

Harenchi zetsugi tekunikku / Tsuki no sabaku / Tongue Show Technique / Moon over the Desert

1991 Waisetsu bōsō shūdan: Kedamono / No Man’s Land / Obscene Runaway Gang: Beast / No Man’s Land

1992 Kindan no sono: Za seifuku rezu / Watashi to iu genshō wa kateisareta yuki koru dentō no hitotsu no aoi shōmei desu / Amazon Garden: Uniformed Lesbians / My Existence is a Phenomenon Based on the Hypothesis of Blue Light Generated by Organic Currency

Chikan densha: Ikenai tsumatachi / Watakushi no kasha wa kita e hashitteiru hazuna no ni koko de wa minami e kaketeiru / Molestor Train: Michievous Wives / My Train Is Supposed to Be Going North But It’s Going South

1993 Mibōjin: Shonanuka no modae / Bōsan ga hekoita / The Widow: Anguish at the Seventh-Day Memorial Service / The Monk Farted

Mibōjin: Mofuku no modae / The Widow: Anguish in Mourning Dress

1994 Kōkyū sōpu tekunikku 4: Monzetsu higi / Karura no yume / High Class Bathhouse Sex Technique: Blissful Secret Acts / The Dream of Garuda

Honban rezu: Hazukashii taii / Kugatsu no datenshi / Genuine Lesbian: Shy Posture / Fallen Angels in September

1995 Sukebe tenkomori / End of the World / Full of Lechery / End of the World

Owaranai sekkusu / Yoru naku semi / Endless Sex / A Cicada Chirping in the Night

1996 Akai jōji / Kurubeki kōkei / Red Liaison / The Expected Scene

Mesukusai: Torokeru kashin / Scent of a Female : Melting Clitoris

1997 Kokkuri-san / Kokkuri

Kuroi shitagi no onna: Raigyo / Raigyo / Snake-Headed Fish (lit. Woman in the Black Underwear: The Snakehead Mullet)

1998 Kegareta Maria: Haitoku no hibi / Dirty Maria

Reiketsu no wana / The Cold-Blooded Trap

1999 Anākī in Japansuke: Mirarete iku onna / Anarchy in Japan

2000 Hysteric

2001 Rush!

Tōkyō X erotika / Tokyo X Erotica

2002 Doggu sutā / Dog Star

SF hoippu kurīmu / SF Whip Cream

2003 Kaette kita deka matsuri / Cop Festival Returns (co-director)

Moon Child

2004 Yuda / Secret Journey

2005 Hada no sukima / Gap in the Skin

2006 Sankuchuari / Sanctuary (Mrs.)

2007 Shisei: Ochita jorōgumo / Si-Sei 2 (lit. The Tattoo: Fallen Spider)

Anime: Short for “animation”; animated film.