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Released by: Unearthed Films
Released on: 12/28/2004
Director: Shozin Fukui
Cast: Kawase Youta, Nao, Ameya Norimizu, Saitou Sousuke
YearL 1996
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The Movie:
Following up his enigmatic and insane 964 Pinocchio, Shozin Fukui returned to making 16mm cyberpunk films five years later with this follow up film, Rubber's Lover. Once again, Fukui beats us about the brain with a giant stick as we wallow in our own filth with him on another demented train ride through his psycho-sexual subconcious - and once again, the results are really weird.
Whereas 964 Pinocchio allowed Fukui to experiment with bold primary colors and strange lighting hues, here he works in a world of stark black and white high contrast. The film begins in a laboratory known only as 'The Center' in which some unorthodox experiments of the mind are being conducted. A group of four sceients run the place, and they're trying to unlock the secrets and powers of the human mind.
Soon the laboratory runs out of money, as their investors pull out and leave the four scientists who run the place scrambling to get their work finished with minimal resources. The four are a determined lot, however, and they carry on in spite of their financial woes. Soon they use one of their own as the final guinea pig in their experiments. The results of their work find fruition the guinea pig mutates and becomes sealed into a rubber suit. This suit is then connected to a device that removes the subconcious from the human mind so that only base desires are left. Unfortunately for those in the laboratory, the device works a little too well, and it all hits the proverbial fan.
Whereas the earlier 964 Pinocchio was a colorful film with a sick sense of humor underneath, Rubber's Lover is cold, frenetic, and clinical all at the same time. The industrial nightmare sets, the sinister and ominous equipment in the lab, and the ear drum blowing soundtrack and set pieces all come together to make a creepy looking film with a nasty mean streak in it. Throw in a giant buff guy running around in a black bikini bottm, some strange sexual overtones, a lot of oil slick blood and arterial spray, and no small amount of strange camera shots and angles and it makes for a truly odd little film.
Like it's predecessor, Rubber's Lover kicks into overdrive in the last half hour - the experiment gone wrong sort of gets it's just rewards and doles out what it wants to server to those who created it. The entire thing looks and feels like a fetish film, with all the medical instruments and latex/rubber costumes. It's very anti social and anti establishment and by the end of the film you'll feel like you've had your brain pulled out, stomped on, and then put back into your cranium (and yes, that is a good thing).
Video/Audio/Extras:
Shot on 16mm black and white film, Rubber's Lover looks very nice on this North American home video debut. The contrast levels are dead on and the noir-in-Hell lighting and look of the film is replicated very nicely here. The fullframe image doesn't break up during the darker black scenes (which is important, because that is most of the movie) and there aren't any problems with edge enhancement. Print damage is almost non-existent and there's a surprisingly high level of detail present in the picture.
The Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix is intentionally over the top - at times it is quite abrassive and the levels sometimes sound like they're way in the red. That being said, dialogue is pretty clean and easy to understand and even with the levels where they are (again, it's supposed to sound like that) the mix sounds pretty good. The sound track music and sound effects kick the crap out of your speakers a few times and it all suits the tone of the film quite perfectly.
First up in the supplemental section is a twenty minute video interview with Shozin Fukui in which he takes the time to explain why the film was shot in black and white, and where he got some of the rather odd ideas from for this film. This is a pretty interesting interview and the rather shy appearing director provides some much needed insight into his own work.
Included in the extra features section is Geroristo, an 8mm color short film that Fukui shot nine years earlier in 1987. Running about ten minutes in length, the film doesn't have much of a narrative and functions more as a series of strange images pieced together. Something we can't see follows a girl onto a subway and in turn, she vomits everywhere (something that will be all too familiar to those who have seen 964 Pinnochio and to a lesser extent, the feature on this disc as well).
Rounding out the supplements are a still gallery and trailers for Junk, Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts, and Rubber's Lover.
The Final Word:
Certainly not for the squeamish or easily offended, Rubber's Lover is nightmarish trip through the human pysche. Unearthed Films' DVD looks and sounds great and has a few quality extra features that compliement the main attraction nicely - they've really shown the love to this bizarre little movie.