Another movie courtesy of xelucha.

If I knew nothing about Japanese cinema (outside of the Godzilla movies I loved as a kid), “Shikoku” (http://aol.imdb.com/title/tt0213245/) is the kind of film I’d imagine were I to ponder the subject - steeped in lore & tradition, blending spirits & ancient rites with a modern-day tale of love, jealousy, & alienation.

Named for the island on which it takes place, “Shikoku” follows the intertwined fates of three childhood friends: best friends Hinako & Sayori, & a boy named Fumiya.

Sayori’s mother is the priestess of a local temple, & uses Sayori (who, coming from a long line of spiritually powerful women, is destined to be a priestess herself) as a medium, helping bereaved parents contact their dead children. But Sayori wants to leave the island, determined to see what the world can offer her, & to do more than simply assume a pre-ordained role. She talks Hinako & Fumiya into skipping school with her, but her father finds her & brings her home. Later that day, Hinako catches sight of one of the medium sessions in the temple, & Sayori threatens to dissolve their friendship if Hinako ever reveals what she saw.

When Hinako’s father gets a job in Tokyo, the family is forced to move. Hinako bids her friends a sad farewell. Several years later, Hinako - now an adult - returns to Shikoku to attend to some business for her father (something to do with the house, which, apparently, they never sold). She tries looking up Sayori, to whom she wrote many times but never received a reply, but finds no one at home. However, she thinks she sees someone in an upstairs window.

Later on, Hinako runs into an old schoolmate, Yukari, who delivers the unfortunate news that Sayori is dead, having drowned at the age of 16. This comes as a particular shock to Hinako because Sayori once saved her from drowning. Yukari also tells her that Sayori’s mother is on a pilgrimage, visiting Shikoku’s 88 temples, & has been doing so since her daughter’s death. Sayori’s father, with whom the mother fought bitterly over the girl’s education & future, was severely injured in a mountain-climbing accident & is pretty much a vegetable.

Soon after, Hinako meets up with Fumiya; simultaneously, strange things begin happening on the island. There are moments when Hinako & Fumiya feel as if they are being watched. Later, a number of statues near some sacred land are found decapitated. Soon after, Hinako awakens in the middle of the night to find Sayori kneeling beside her. Fumiya suggests she dreamed this, until Hinako produces a trinket left in her room - the same one she gave to Sayori when she moved.

As the story goes on, Fumiya & Hinako grow closer, brought together by their investigation of these (& other) strange occurrences, & their shared past under the thumb of Sayori - Hinako, something of the devout follower as well as friend; Fumiya, deeply in love (“Twin Peaks” fans may liken this to the Donna/James/Laura thing). Through conversations with Fumiya & Yukari, Hinako learns Sayori harboured a deep resentment toward her because she (Hinako) left the island first. But being in the big city for so long has caused more than one villager to consider Hinako “no longer one of us” - especially when more spectres of dead residents begin appearing.

Interspersed between all these goings-on, we catch glimpses of Sayori’s mother & her temple visits. What Hinako, Fumiya, & the audience soon discover is that this pilgrimage has a definite meaning. The ritual of visiting the temples & collecting their seals is said to close off the gateways that separate the land of the living from the land of the dead. But only if the temples are visited in a precise order. Sayori’s mother, however, is moving in reverse, a path meant to open the gateways...to bring the dead back to life.

Despite the explosive possibilities of her mother’s journey, touched upon with the sightings of the dead by other villagers, the story is kept extremely intimate, confined to the effect Sayori’s resurrection has on those closest to her. This may prove a disappointment for lovers of more extreme Asian cinema. However, “Shikoku” - visually beautiful, thematically powerful yet subtly executed - is a great introduction for movie buffs looking to understand & experience the cultural undertones of Japanese cinema, or those for whom jump-out-of-your-seat thrills & non-stop action prove too much. It runs a little like “Audition” - placid, almost dreamy - but doesn’t pack the punch ending. The conclusion here is almost too quick when it comes, but is sad, sweet, & rather profound. Sporting wonderful performances by Yui Natsukawa (Hinako), Michitaka Tsutsui (Fumiya), & especially Chiaki Kuriyama (“Kill Bill vol. 1”, “Battle Royale”) as Sayori - who moved me to near tears toward the end of the film - less of a malevolent creature than a desperate, wounded soul who cannot control what she has become, “Shikoku” is well worth a viewing.