Category: Japanese mystery stories

After all, The Inugami Clan…

Time flies! It has been already close to one year since I was noisy about the remake of The Inugami Clan movie.
My right eye has still not completely recovered yet. My old glasses are also not right for me: I can’t see clearly. However, if I wait for it to recover, I might end up back in the hospital; the anxiety gave me a shove, and we went to see the 2006 version of The Inugami Clan at the movie theatre.

We usually don’t go to the movie theatre. The last time was Godzilla: Final Wars two years ago.
We probably aren’t movie lovers. And also, in the city where we lived before, the matinee price was $5 and the regular price was $8, so we feel the Japanese movie price is too expensive for us. Of course, we have been here for seven years, but we still feel it’s too high. We usually wait for movies to be broadcast on TV. The likes of us went to watch it at the movie theatre! What a surprise!

Thirty years ago, the original version of this movie was a sensation for everyone, because of the major advertising by the original novel’s publisher, and also the movie’s production.
In the remake, the picture colour is pale like an old photograph. The original was much more vivid. I don’t know what it was like in the actual 22nd year of Showa (1947), but it was only two years after the war: the characters in this new version are all too clean looking.
I’m not complaining about the movie, but the previous one made a strong impression on me, so I’m inclined to prefer the older one if I compare the two movies. I don’t need to compare them though…

By the way, the image below incorporates the original book cover published in Showa 47. This cover probably also gave me a strong impression of the story.

Stories about receiving a large inheritance among relatives are common in mysteries from other countries, but anyway we love what Kindaichi Kosuke gets up to in typically beautiful scenes from an older Japan.

– YS, 21 December 2006

21 December 2006