SNOW WOMAN

Sugino directs, co-writes and plays the titular lead in her third directorial feature. Her previous films, 'Kyoto Elegy' and 'Taksu', were paradoxical modern stories dealing with relationships and the difficulty men and woman have in communicating with each other. 'Snow Woman' takes place in an alternative universe that is mix of Hearn's spirit-haunted world, striving post-war Japan and modernistic society with its eco-friendly and exotic technology.

The film at times feels like a Victorian ghost tale or gothic Hammer film. Sugino mostly avoids the overt horror clichés of influential J-Horror classics such as 'Ringu' and 'Ju On: The Grudge' - there are no jump scares to be had and no gore to flinch from. There isn't any long-haired, croaking ghoul gobbling up innocents here, just an ambiguous figure that perhaps serves to release others from the pain they are suffering. Instead, emphasis is placed on the (surprisingly erotic) relationship between Minokichi and Yuki, as well as the impact the woman has on the village in which they live.

Sugino uses this emphasis as an opportunity to show the daily life in the village - 'Snow Woman' doesn't attempt to create a supernatural universe through the photography and art direction, and instead underlines the reality of its woodsy setting, which is supplemented by scenes in a contemporary schoolyard and a factory. Everything is steeped in ritual and repetition, from nameless shrine maidens crossing a stream, to the mechanical activities of the workers and children's exercise drills in a schoolyard.

It also comments on the society beyond the confines of Yuki and Minokichi's unusual bond. When the factory trumpets its new lighting technology and its owner rails against what he calls Yuki's "tainted blood," the film suddenly jumps out of its time and into ours. Yuki, we realise, is not only a conduit between the human and spirit world, progress versus nature, but also a type of immigrant, which makes her - in certain sectors of her isolated community - suspect.

Shogo Ueno's camerawork is superb, moving between Kurosawa-influenced to crisply surreal modern frames, such as the beautiful wide shot of Ume and her schoolmates practicing a martial arts routine in a yellow yard, or the boss addressing his workers in their matching uniforms on the theatrically artificial-looking factory floor. And the scoring by long-time Sugino collaborator Sow Jow is similarly varied and precise, ranging from the classically Japanese and ghostly - pure choirs and sonorous soft gongs - to the electronic.

I viewed this film at the 2017 Japanese Film Festival in Sydney, where it's screening was followed by a Q&A with Sugino and a supremely charismatic Munetaka Aoki, resplendent in a suit, open-throated shirt and thongs (who informed the audience he'd already had a few glasses of chardonnay). If the director's body of work didn't confirm my suspicions, watching her thoughtfully discuss her filmography in person did: Kiki Sugino is an intensely intelligent, elegant storyteller who is destined to make a lasting impact on Japanese independent cinema.

'Snow Woman' is beautiful, poetic and nuanced and was easily my favourite film of the festival. Highly recommended and well worth seeking out.