incandescens gave me, last Christmas, a copy of Onmyoji. Seven months later I finally get to see it all. It is, in a word, delicious. Japanese sorcery and martial arts, the history of legend, and very interesting characters that highlight each other quite well. Lovely, lovely cinematography. The fight sequences were less than the specticals that are possible today, but given that the whole movie was more low key about the direct fighting, it fit. And the story fired all of my likes. Magic seated in the deepest of human needs. Power born and earned with an ironic view towards reality. Interesting people and a love triangle that never resolves.I especially liked the continuation of what I know is a Japanese legend, that if one eats the flesh of a mermaid, one can get eternal, unchanging life. I've always like that that was treated more as a curse than as a blessing. There's a manga about that theme, set in the modern day.
I loved the costumes, the flute, the motion of the actors, the over-the-top cackling of the Bad Guy who was obviously born to be just plain Bad. I loved the ambiguity of Seimei's "goodness", and the earnestness of one only really good guy in the story. I really enjoy how it hangs as the first of what really should be a series of movies, and which I believe is a series of Japanese novels. Now, though, I want the books. Not just translated, but written within the vein of how these particular characters interact. I know that an Onmyoji 2 is out, and it's already sub-scripted. I may have to just buy it.
Thank you,
incandescens! 