"The World I Saw", a reliving of escape [Enokido Ichiro's Films Akasatana Vol.83]

This was a mysterious work. At first, I was confused as to what it was about, but after a while, I realized what the director meant and was completely captivated. I had inadvertently only known the outline of the film, that it was "directed by and starring Eri Ishida, and depicts the Kazuko Fukuda incident." Other than that, the title "The World I Saw" (25) sounds similar to Tatsuki Ryo's prophetic manga " The Future I Saw " (which predicts a "great disaster" in July 2025, becoming a hot topic, but ultimately failing), so I thought it might be a disappointment. I never imagined that "The World I Saw" was actually "the world I saw."

I think the majority of people probably prefer easy-to-understand direction like in TV dramas. There are also people who don't like experimental techniques, even in the works of masters like director Nobuhiko Obayashi. That's why I don't recommend "The World I Saw" to everyone. Speaking of professional baseball, if you want to see a Giants-Hanshin game at Tokyo Dome, I think a big-budget movie at a multiplex would be better suited. However, there are also people like me who, if possible, would like to see a sunset-suspended Nippon Ham-Seibu game at Kushiro Municipal Baseball Stadium. If you're a connoisseur or a die-hard movie fan, you definitely don't want to miss this.

Director Ishida Eri made a short film called "CONTROL" in 2019, but this is her first feature film as a director. She paid for the production costs herself. She hasn't been the same person who played Michiko in " Tsuribaka Nisshi " all this time. There were various reasons for her leaving the role, but she took over as Asada Miyoko's Michiko. She doesn't fit in as the kind of person with a big smile. I feel like she has some kind of karma, some kind of internal energy. Maybe she felt like she couldn't move forward a single step unless she made a film.

Come to think of it, Hanamori Ayako in Negishi Kichitaro's " Distant Thunder " (1981), which became her breakthrough as an actor, was also filled with an overwhelming energy. The tomatoes and Hanamori Ayako's body in the greenhouses in Tochigi even felt punkish. " Distant Thunder " is an eternal masterpiece, depicting violence and impulse with no outlet. One wonders what it would be like to portray or play Fukuda Kazuko as portrayed by such a person. How will Ishida Eri portray Fukuda Kazuko's escape story?

Let's talk about Kazuko Fukuda here. She is the perpetrator of the Matsuyama hostess murder case that took place in August 1982. After the crime, she spent about 15 years on the run until July 1997, just before the statute of limitations expired. During that time, she used a false name and underwent plastic surgery to alter her appearance, earning her the nickname "The Woman with Seven Faces." She has been portrayed many times in novels, TV dramas, and movies. "The World I Saw" is the latest such work. However, as far as I know, there is no other work that depicts a crime like "The World I Saw." In fact, it is probably rare in the history of crime movies.

"The World I Saw" (c)2025 Triangle C Project

At the beginning, I said I never thought "The World I Saw" would truly be "the world I saw." This film truly is "the world I saw." There are scenes in which actor Eri Ishida stands in a deserted place. Or, there's a scene in which she runs away in the darkness. But throughout the film's 69-minute running time, Eri Ishida appears in only a few scenes. Most of the images are what you might call "subjective footage"—scenes seen through the eyes of the culprit, Setsuko Sato, modeled after Kazuko Fukuda. I was shocked when I realized this after a while. For example, suppose a character speaks to Setsuko Sato. It could be a regular customer at a bar or a coworker cleaning at a love hotel. The characters act facing the camera, speaking their lines. Eri Ishida never reacts to the lines. The camera (the perspective of the culprit, Setsuko Sato) simply responds.

Of course, Ishida Eri is a veteran actor, so she must be well aware that a play is made up of a series of reactions. She films the face of the actor being told the lines, not the one who is saying them. Putting emotion into the lines just makes them noisy. In fact, it's fine to read them monotonously, like in director Hamaguchi Ryusuke's films. She acts through her reactions. Emotions are contained in reactions. Ishida Eri has surely built her career this way. And yet she shot the film using "subjective footage" with no reaction shots. It's extremely experimental. It throws out the rules.

The effect is that everything passes right before her eyes. Murder, rape, drug addiction, prostitution - all the Inferno things Sato Setsuko encounters on the run are simply watched. The bar hostess, the mother-obsessed regular customer, the kind Japanese sweet shop owner, the yakuza, the women at the brothel - you feel as though you're just gazing blankly at the characters without getting deeply involved in the human drama. It leaves you with a sense of emptiness. I wonder if this is what life is like for a fugitive who can't (truly) connect with people.

So the audience gets to relive Sato Setsuko's (Fukuda Kazuko) life on the run. They get to see with their own eyes the world she saw while on the run. They learn how she killed, how she escaped, and how she was caught. Again, I wouldn't recommend this to everyone. But for people like me, it's an interesting film.

Text: Ichiro Enoki

Born in 1959. Born in Akita Prefecture. Debuted in a commercial magazine with ``Takarajima'' in 1980 while studying at Chuo University. Since then, he has serialized columns and essays in various magazines, and continues to this day. Also active on radio and television. Twitter @ichiroenokido

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"The World I Saw"

Released nationwide from July 26th (Fri) at Theater Image Forum and other theaters

Distributor: Triangle C Project

(c)2025 Triangle C Project