Matt Cooper Films

Organ (1996) by Kei Fujiwara

Police officers, Numata (Kenji Nasa) and his partner Tosaka (Takaaki Yoshimoto), are undercover investigating an organ harvesting gang. When their cover is blown, Numata manages to escape the ensuing gunfight while Tosaka is captured. The organ thieves, Saeki (Kimihiko Hasegawa) and Yoko (Kei Fujiwara) continue their murderous activities, evading capture by the police and repercussions from the criminal gang who are unhappy with their operation being discovered. Tosaka’s whereabouts are being investigated by Numata and Tosaka’s own identical twin brother.

Written and directed by Kei Fujimoto, who also stars as Yoko, “Organ” is a gruesome blend of police action and body horror. The visually grotesque sequences of organ harvesting and transformation, reminiscent of Tsukamoto’s “Tetsuo” (which Fujiwara acted in), are effective in establishing the depraved criminality of the antagonists; and highlighting human vulnerability and mortality. The special effects, helped by close-up, handheld camerawork and lighting, are stomach-churning, bringing even the more outrageous concepts to sickening life. The film’s direction is often disorienting, packed with close-ups in cramped quarters, the editing intercutting between sequences, and the blending together of three subplots that rarely overlap. This gives the whole film the feel of a Frankenstein’s monster, dissected and reassembled from parts; a story that becomes easier to understand the more we see of it. The inclusion of flashbacks showing Junichi and Yoko’s troubled childhood are a good example of a scene that seems to be spliced in, but without which much of the emotional connection to the characters would be lost.

As the film progresses, the plot becomes clearer and the characters more well-defined, but “Organ” remains a film that works best on an experiential or metaphorical level. In one of the weirder sequences we see a humanoid figure emerging from a cocoon. It comes from nowhere and is not apparently referencing anything literal in the film. We see Junichi struggling with some strange condition, turning into a monster before our eyes, perhaps a nod to the idea of his sins manifesting physically. The strength of the film is in what it says about human frailty, and what constitutes morality when we live in such a fragile state, at the mercy of disease that is as ruthless as the criminals in the film. “Organ” also delves into psychology with the notion that Junichi and Yoko’s past may have forced them down this path of destruction, or at least taught them not to value human life. A curious film that works as a simple action-horror, but contains darker truths if you scratch beneath the surface.

Matt Cooper Anime, Television

Psycho-Pass 2 (2014)

Investigator Akane Tsunemori (Kana Hanazawa) heads up division one as they take on a new challenge in the shape of a mysterious figure intent on tearing society apart. Following an incident in which a fellow detective, Mizue Shisui (Marina Inoue) is kidnapped and her Dominator used to kill an Enforcer, the team uncover the villain Kamui Kirito (Ryohei Kimura), a figure who is able to keep his Hue clear while committing horrendous acts and who is recruiting others to his cause to confront the Sibyl system that controls their society. Along with the other memebers of Division One, Tsunemori faces down a sadistic foe while attempting to maintain her own unblemished character.

The first series of “Psycho-Pass” introduced us to this futuristic society where people are judged based on the colour, or Hue, of their characters, criminality being determined by a collective intelligence AI known as Sibyl. “Psycho-Pass 2” jumps straight into the action, assuming a foreknowledge of Investigators, Enforcers, Dominators, Hues, the Sibyl System, Holograms, and Drones, that are commonplace in this world. Instead Investigator Tsunemori, now more worldly wise following the preceding events, is given a new case and an intriguing mystery in the shape of Kamui. The series builds this investigation through the series, expertly introducing new clues, and delivers a series of thrilling confrontations as things progress. The script draws in elements from criminalistics, referencing Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, and philosophy, with discussions on the Omnipotence Paradox, creating a show that is both entertaining and thought-provoking about both potential futures of crime prevention and our current thinking about criminality.

The noirish shadows and sharp suited investigators not only make for a stylish crime drama, but emphasise the disconnect between a world in which crime coefficients can be calculated, in black and white, but where anxieties around a more grey morality are ever present. The series blends elements of science-fiction and gothic horror, technological advancements such as holograms and drones sit alongside the often brutal explosions of gore and terrifying moments of cruelty. The story uses these elements, contrasting primeval violence with the supposedly civilising qualities of science and progress.

Many of the ideas in Psycho-Pass 2 are  carried over from the first series. The central question remains the legitimacy of the Sibyl system and its edicts on who is or is not a criminal. Again the show offers few easy answers. Despite the violence perpetrated by Kamui, there are also significant issues with the implementation of a system that applies numbers to people’s ‘criminality’. A second theme the series discusses is the notion of proxy criminality, taken to an extreme by having people unwittingly controlling deadly weapons while believing they are interacting with a harmless online game. This further highlights the problems with a society that judges only those directly involved with crime, ignoring those whose involvement is indirect, or who may unknowingly be causing harm. A fantastic follow up to the first series that delivers on all the elements that made it so enjoyable while introducing several new ideas an a complex central mystery.

Matt Cooper Films

Confessions of a Dog (2006) by Gen Takahashi

Takeda (Shun Sugata) is promoted from a lowly beat officer to the investigations department. While the money is good, helping to support his pregnant wife (Harumi Inoue), he soon discovers that corruption is rife in the force, with the police taking a cut from Yakuza drug deals. On the orders of his superiors he carries out his duty diligently, the line between right and wrong slowly vanishing from sight. When a new recruit, Roppo, starts at Takeda’s old police job he is shown the ropes by two older patrolmen, who give him an insight into how they operate and the various scams they perpetrate with immunity. After a run in with the police in which he is beaten up for prying in their business, a bar owner, Kusama (Junichi Kawamoto), and his photo journalist friend, Kitamura (Kunihiko Ida), set out to expose the corruption in the police force that goes right to the top.

Gen Takahashi’s film is a cross between a morality play and an investigative documentary. While the characters and plot are fictional, there is a chilling ring of truth to everything. The inspiration for the story came from Takahashi’s friend, journalist Yu Terasawa, who has worked on uncovering police corruption. The low-level officers are shown to be violent and horny, abusing their position to commit assault and even rape. The conspiracy of silence surrounding them allows them to act without fear of reprisal. The detectives are no less reprehensible, although more organized in their lawbreaking, with everything from entrapment, witness intimidation, drug use, frequenting prostitutes, protection rackets and bribery on display. The film is unrelenting in its depiction of the police as a force for evil in society, with not a single redeemable character among them. Shun Sugata’s performance as Takeda perfectly captures the fall of an honest, gentle man into his role as just another cog in the corrupt machinery of the state. His monologue at the end is spine-chilling as he tears apart the thin veil of respectability to show the police for what they truly are. Although the script is heavy in detail, with Takahashi clearly wanting to get across as much as possible about all the various ways the police are corrupt, it does a decent job of weaving it into a cohesive narrative. It never comes across as a lecture on the evils of the police. Takeda’s wife and daughter offer further emotional weight to the drama, being emblematic of the life he is leaving behind when he becomes further involved with the scandals that are unfolding. “Confessions of a Dog” features some standout direction, at times like a police procedural, at others using theatrical techniques with lighting changes and monologues to make a strong point.

Police corruption is a serious issue and one that citizens should rightly be aware of given the trust that is placed in them. The film is all the more shocking for the realistic way in which it portrays police corruption from the lowest to the highest levels. Most crime films exaggerate to the point that they are hard to believe, but nothing that is shown here seems unbelievable. The film comments on the nature of this corruption as something that is inseparable from the police force, with the hierarchical structure and solidarity amongst officers engendering these behaviours. There are echoes of fascism in the idea that officers are ‘only following orders’ from their superiors. It blames a supine press, essentially repeating official statements to a largely oblivious public for the problem; offering a faint hope that people could be better informed and take action to prevent these things happening. An epic police drama that meticulously details corruption in the force, while at the same time telling a heart-breaking personal story about how such organizations can turn even good natured individuals into unquestioning servants of a damaging system.

Matt Cooper Anime

Psycho-Pass (2012) Series One

Akane Tsunemori (Kana Hanazawa) has recently joined the police as an Investigator tracking down dangerous criminals. Due to advances in technology they are now able to determine an individual’s crime coefficient and take them down without the need for evidence or trial. The Investigators work together with Enforcers, people who have high crime coefficients but work on the side of the law, whose criminal tendencies make them ideally suited to tracking and capturing other criminals. They use guns known as Dominators, which give a reading and will allow either a paralysing or fatal shot to be taken. Among the Enforcers in Akane’s unit is Shinya Kogami (Tomokazu Seki), a man who was once an investigator himself, but whose obsession over a particular case led him to tip over into criminality. Akane’s respect for him puts her at odds with her superior investigator Ginoza (Kenji Nojima), who believes that Enforcers and Investigators are fundamentally different and that her role should be more that of a handler than a colleague. They soon find themselves on the trail of a serial killer named Shogo Makishima (Takahiro Sakurai) who appears to be able to outwit them at every turn. His apparent lack of a crime rating also leads them to question the morality of deciding right and wrong based on the “crime coefficient”.

An intelligent crime drama, “Psycho-Pass” takes theories of criminalistics and forensic psychology to their natural conclusion in a futuristic setting. In deciding that people can be categorised as criminal or innocent through a simple number based on various factors, society has given itself over to notions of right and wrong being determined by computer. In this world there is no room for nuance. There are no crimes of passion, crimes of necessity or opportunity, only crimes. The calculation of this number is opaque, nevertheless the police force have completely prostrated themselves before the technology – and the all-powerful Sibil System that controls it – no longer trusting their own judgement of a person’s character. As well as this criminological aspect, there is also a more philosophical theme running throughout. The notion that people are fated to be a certain way, and that in fact the moral or right path for a person is to do that thing they feel most suited for, even if that involves crime or killing. Essentially, the technology has taken away people’s free will as they are forced into behaving exactly as the machine wants them to, whether right or wrong. As the series progresses the various flaws in this seemingly utopian system become apparent. Ideas of good and evil are subject to question and various revelations regarding the characters leads the viewer to reassess what they have perceived about this world. In Makishima, the series has a villain that is a perfect foil to the protagonists. While they are bound to the law, he is entirely lawless, perhaps even in a Nietzschean sense “Beyond Good and Evil”, believing that the only moral path for a person is to do what they wish or are best at. A secondary villain emphasises this point even more, that criminality is often a matter of context; psychopathy often being a useful aberration in human populations, perhaps the desire to confront and destroy pre-existing systems being a necessity for humankind to progress.

The animation by Production IG (Ghost in the Shell) is exceptional. Textured surfaces, background details and lighting effects all help to create the sense of a real world. Likewise, weather effects such as the pouring rain in the opening episode, or wind rustling coat collars, work towards the noirish feel. There are a number of technologies in the film, such as the avatars that characters can create around themselves, that are interesting additions to the world. The visualisation of online spaces is also well done with unique character designs. The series does not shy away from depicting violent and brutal crimes, with abuse and murder both graphically portrayed. This all helps to create a sense of dread that pervades the story. You are aware early on that there really are lives at stake if the detectives fail to catch the killer. An absolutely thrilling ride from start to finish, with high-tension action sequences and a story that goes headlong for several important questions about how society is managed. A blend of all the best elements of cyberpunk and noir detective stories, with themes of criminality and societal control that encourage the audience to think about the potential implications of these things on our own world.

Matt Cooper Films

Beach Volleyball Detectives Parts 1 and 2 (2007) by Yumi Yoshiyuki

While playing volleyball, a group of three female officers see a man spying on them. After running him down they find a memory stick containing information about a nuclear bomb threat. The group are joined by a CIA operative who arrives and the four of them must go undercover. They sign-up for an international volleyball tournament alongside Chinese, Indian and Russian teams. The Chinese competitors, under the auspices of the mysterious “Black Sun”, are planning to destroy the world and it is up to the Japanese to stop them.

“Beach Volleyball Detectives” is a film that has a concept that could absolutely have worked in the right hands. The farcical plot and blend of low-brow titillation and slapstick humour do provide a few good moments, but on the whole they are undermined by the poor production quality. The locations in Chiba are hardly fitting for the sexy tone the film is trying to establish and the sets are usually no more than empty rooms dressed with a few posters and props. In a film such as this a silly and unbelievable plot and wooden acting is hardly a significant drawback, but the film never reaches that critical mass of humour or outrageousness, often being bland and uncreative. The actresses are there to look good and little else. There are jokes about Chinese, Russian and Indian stereotypes that again suffer from poor execution. It feels as though little effort was put into anything beyond the basic premise, which makes it remarkable they managed to convince even this small cast to star in it. Film’s like the live-action “Cutie Honey” and “Oppai Volleyball” show that the problem is not necessarily with the fundamentals, but with the execution. Likewise, “Ping Pong” and “Prince of Tennis” are examples of over-the-top sports comedies that are engaging. The problem here is that not enough effort went into the production. An egregious example of this is in the use of CGI volleyballs. There is absolutely no reason why the actresses could not have strung together a couple of plays, and in the close-up one shots it is completely unnecessary to use special effects. I loved the concept of players each having a video game-esque special move, but again this was undermined by poor quality graphics. They could have done more of the visual gags with practical effects with just a little more creative thought.

Overall, “Beach Volleyball Detectives” is probably one best avoided. It is lacking in quality humour, script, dialogue, acting and special effects. It is almost incredible that a film about women playing beach volleyball can be so uninteresting.