RinguNanako Matsushima
Synopsis: Two girls Masami (Hitomi Sato) and Tomoko (Yuki Takeuchi)discuss an legend that came from Izu peninsula. A supposed tape is circulating and whoever watches it has only one week to live. Once Tomoko and the rest of the highschool students who watched the video die with looks of terror on their faces it gets the attention of a reporter. Reiko Asakawa investigates the rumors and once teamed with her former husband Ryuji they uncover the truth behind the rumor.
Hideo Nakata was born on July 19th, 1961 in Okayama, Japan. Before his acclaimed movie, Ringu, Nakata had directed a few other films that did not get nearly get as noticed but started his career as an director. ("Curse, Death, and Spirit" (1992) and "Don't Look Up" (1996) were his first films if anyone is interested in his earlier work). His break through movie ,of course, was Ringu which got popular around the world. A outcome of this popularity was the American version, The Ring(2002) along with its sequals The Ring 2 and The Ring 3. Hideo Nakata was asked by Dreamworks to direct the American version of The Ring 2, which he accepted. Another film that was successful and directed by him was Dark Water which was another horror film. This also got very popular and America made their own version of it as well, which was scary but not nearly as good as the original. One of his more recent works that appealed to me was Death Note: L, Change the World. This was based on the manga Death Note created by Tsugumi Ohba which was a dark series that invovled unnatural forces intermingling with life on earth. This is a common theme Nakata sticks to in his movies, which are mostly in the horror genre or have horror/fantasy aspects. Hideo Nakata has directed more movies since and continues to be involved in projects at the present day. 
Nanako Matsushima and Hiroyuki Sanada were the two main characters in Ringu. Nanako Matsushima was born on October 13, 1973 in Yokohama, Japan. She played the role of Reiko Asakawa, a reporter who follows the story of a mysterious video that kills its watchers in one weeks time whom then inadvertently watches the video resulting in a race against time. Matsushima is a model as well as an actress who actually got the title of the highest paid actress in Japan. This w
as not a direct result of her role in Ringu but more so the Japanese drama's she was involved in. She even had a role in Hana Yori Dango which is my favorite Japanese drama (she plays Domyoji Tsukasa's older sister). Hiroyuki Sanada was born in Tokyo, Japan on October 12, 1960. His character
was Ryuji Takayama, the ex-husband of Reiko Asakawa who watched the cursed video to prove that it had no effect but then got wrapped up in the reality of dying in one weeks time. Sanada has had many roles throughout his career, it would be nearly impossible to talk about them all but there are a few worth mentioning. Other than being a part of the movie Ringu he also stared in Rush Hour 3 and The Last Samurai which are both pretty popular movies in the US. He is also going to be on Lost later this year, which is a TV series in America. Another role that earned him recognition was in the Japanese film Tasogare Seibei (Twilight Samurai).Reception
There was a lot of hype surrounding Ringu in Japan which was the reason it was such a hit in the box office.
The film grossed over 137 million dollars in Japan which ranks it the highest grossing horror movie in the country. This strong reaction to this film made it recognized around the world which lead to the adaptation in America called The Ring. It was a hit in the US which then opened the door to adopting other Asian horror films and westernizing them to suit a larger audience. The Grudge and The Eye are just a few of these films that were originally in the Asian horror film genre.Genre: Horror / Suspense thriller
Japanese horror like other Asian horror genres are often based on folk religion or tales from the past. Ringu has origins from Yurei which is when a spirit is bound to earth by emotions that disable them from leaving. This would be Sadako who is dressed in the traditional Japanese funeral wear and has unkempt hair which is typical of Yurei.
The first horror films in Japan were based on stories of ghosts such as Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook) which was made in 1898. This stems from history as well 
being that ghost stories were a part of culture during the edo period. Japan remaines a pioneer for this genre with their teqniques to create uneasiness in an audience and a long history of tales that have been passed on.
Horror films are aimed to create a unsettlement within the audience. There is a building up of tension that keeps the viewer on edge throughout the movie. Horror mostly focuses on unnatural beings present in the ordinary world. In the case of Ringu critics would consider it true horror for the ability to make you jump or feel scared by the supernatural force of sadako in the film. Specifically J-horror more so involves psycho
logical aspects of the horror genre that contribute to the unsettling feeling the person feels while watching.
Themes:
Females as lead
Reiko Asakawa is a female reporter in Ringu and is the main character in the film. The other main character is of 
course Sadako, the evil girl who can will anyone to die. This is one of the few films that has had women be the main focus, the other films with this same theme was The Housemaid and Tale of Two Sisters. The commonality of these films are that they are all considered to be in the horror genre. Many of the Asian horror films have a female "monster", this has a larger effect on the audience since women are usually looked at as frail and innocent. By having females be the deranged, the evil, and the murderous it stretches the boundaries of the normal vs. unnatural.
Technology As Evil
Ringu is centered by the concept that evil can be transmitted through a tape in to your home. In fact, there are many things in Ringu that keep pointing to media/television as a bad sign. Firstly, Reiko's job is being a TV reporter, her job keeps her from having a family she is divorced from her husband and her relationship with Yoichi is extremely strained. Also in the first scene of
the movie the television turned on all by itself creating a eerie effect that something bad is going to happen soon, making the television itself a bad omen. Then you ,of course, have this video tape that if watched will kill you in a weeks time. So the message exhibited here is that television should be feared, that nothing good can come from it.
Responsibility
Throughout the film it is apparent that Reiko is not responsible for her own actions. She first shows this by seeking out a tape that is suppose to kill you so she can watch it for herself. Once it was proven that the tape was real and she sentenced herself to death, s
he then takes the tape with her and shows it to her ex-husband. So not only is she going to die but now her ex-husband is going to die as well. Then later on as she is bringing the evil tape around with her Yoichi then stumbles on the tape and watches it. So now because of her actions they are all going to die from watching the tape. A second example of this is the fact that Reiko is not a very good mother, her son is raising himself since she is never there. He walks by himself, feeds himself, and even lays clothes out for his mother. She is not being responsible for her own son which ultimately leads to him watching the tape.
Questions/Comments:
What trend in the western world arose after Ringu's popularity began to get attention globally? Do you think this has a positive or negative effect on Japan's film industry?
What goal did Sadako ultimately have? It becomes skewed by the end of the movie of the intentions of Sadako, what message do you think she wanted to convey?
Sources
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideo_Nakata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanako_Matsushima
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroyuki_Sanada
This was my first time to watch this movie. The movie, 'Ringe' was such a huge hit in Korea in 2000 I think. Almost every elder people who are able to watch this movie watched it and were so excited about it.
ReplyDeleteWell... it wasn't really what I expected. I thought this movie has a lot of shocking and thrilling moments but it has so less of them. Maybe because like Michelle said, there wasn't really enough movie to make this movie. But the parts where they were trying to find mystery of the video was just so tedious. I mean the ghosts only appear few times compared to other current horror movies.
Also the last scene where the ghost comes out of the television was not actually scary at all. I think because I watched too many commercials which were the parody of that scene ^^
Did any of you watch the American version of 'Ring'? What are the differences between Japanese one and American one? I didn't watch it.
ReplyDeleteA major difference you see between the american version versus the Japanese version is that there is more emphasis on visual scary rather than psychological scary. This can be attributed to the cultural differences between the two nations.
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what Vince said, in the American version there were grotesque images of the victims that weren't present at all in the Japanese version. The Japanese version's victims were scared to death, but they weren't grossly distorted or disfigured.
ReplyDeleteThe length of the movie is also very different. The Ring clocks in at about 2 hours I'd say, while Ringu is less than 90 minutes long. With such a difference in time, the pacing between these two movies are very different.
How different is the Korean version in comparison with the Japanese one?
I enjoy the subtle Asian horror films which have a focus more on the psychological tension and suspense and creepy atmosphere than the visually grotesque and shock horror of Hollywood films.
ReplyDeleteHowever, some of the later Asian horror films are pretty intense. Have anyone else seen Audition or Ju-On? Those films are pretty disturbing.
i liked the american version better. although this movie didnt have much money to make it that scary, i thought the american version had more scary keep points. like the little boy, the american version it shows him constantly drawing the ring her and circles. but in this one, you just see the back of him drawing on something in the grass and the scene changes. that scene really freaked me out when i watched it. littel details like that is what made the american film much more scarier
ReplyDeleteI don't get why is it called the "ring"? well, i have to say the movie is not as good as i expected. My expectation is high for this movie because it suppose to be a lot better and scarier than the American version. however, I don't really feel like i was dragged into the movie. Maybe it's because it's too old. Anyway, the plot's good. At least there are real ghosts.
ReplyDelete