Review of "Helter Skelter" ヘルタースケルター

Title: Helter Skelter
Date of release: 14 July 2012
Director: Ninagawa Mika
Scriptwriter: Kaneko Arisa
Theme song: evolution by Hamasaki Ayumi

Cast
Lilico - Sawajiri Erika
Asada Makoto - Oomori Nao
Hada Michiko - Terajima Shinobu
Okumura Shinichi - Ayano Go
Yoshikawa Kozue - Mizuhara Kiko
Sawanabe Kinji - Arai Hirofumi
Hosuda Kumi - Suzuki An (Friendship appearance)
Tsukahara Keita - Terajima Susumu
Hamaguchi Mikio - Aikawa Sho
Hirukoma Chikako - Sumiyoshi Mariko
Nanbu Takao - Kubozuka Yosuke (Friendship appearance)
Wachi Hisako - Harada Mieko
Tada Hiroko - Momoi Kaori

To be honest, I didn't think this movie would make it here. Given the amount of nudity and very sexually-explicit scenes which offers a lot of room for imagination (sometimes a tad too much until it feels like a porn flick), I thought this film would not have passed the censors unless it was heavily edited. Surprisingly, it managed to pass the censors (although I'm not sure if anything was cut) so here I am writing a review about it.

I read some reviews and comments about this movie prior to watching it but they weren't exactly favourable. This being Ninagawa's first attempt at being a director, there were some problems pointed out in those reviews which I think were probably due to inexperience as a director. From this point onwards, there will be lots of spoilers so if you haven't watched this movie and do not wish to know the story and key developments, please skip this review.

Before I begin sharing my views on this movie, here is a brief summary of the storyline:

Lilico is a popular and famous fashion model who's seen on the covers of virtually every magazine and adored by both men and women. However, little does the public know that there is a dark secret which Lilico is hiding as she had undergone extensive plastic surgery to obtain her current looks and figure. Besides having to pay lots of money to the plastic surgeon in order to maintain this perfect image, Lilico has to bear with the stress brought about by her punishing schedule which further causes side effects from the plastic surgery to appear on her body. Just then, Lilico's dream to marry a rich man's son Nanbu is dashed when the tabloids publish reports of his impending marriage to another woman who comes from a similar family background. Nanbu makes it clear to Lilico that although he likes her, there is no way he can marry her given his status and he's not prepared to give up everything for her. To make things worse, she is targeted by the prosecutors (Asada and Hosuda) to be a witness against the beauty clinic she did her surgery at but she cannot agree to this since this will mean exposing her secret. When her agency's newcomer Kozue becomes the talk of the town, this makes Lilico break down and she resorts to digging out her left eye just before the press conference to explain the news about her plastic surgery before disappearing from the public eye. Some time later, Kozue is brought to a place by her staff where she meets Lilico again...

As I did not read the manga before, I'm not sure if the movie followed the storyline exactly or made some slight differences. Lilico's downward spiral in life can be attributed to the plastic surgery she went through but  there was too little mentioned as to why Lilico took the plunge to resort to such drastic measures. Was it for the fame? For money, the desire to be popular or was it something else? In addition, it was a pity that the movie failed to give some background about Lilico and Tada especially how they met and why Lilico trusted Tada so much. That I feel is a big piece of the puzzle which was sorely missing and that made the story incomplete. Perhaps it had been explained at great length in the manga but for someone who is watching the movie only, it might feel as if things happened suddenly for no apparent reason. In addition, there was a lot of airtime attributed to the sexual scenes e.g. when Lilico seduced Hada for the first time or when Lilico and Nanbu were getting intimate in the dressing room which I think could have been shortened a little to make way for the key parts of the story which were missing. I don't think the scenes should be cut away completely because they form a key part of Lilico's life and how she manages to control people around her with sex. As for the ending, it leaves a lot of room for imagination because you not only have to guess what happened after Kozue met Lilico again, there were also telltale clues that this was not a chance encounter after all and that there were people who were still "controlled"  by Lilico in one way or another and did her bidding to lure Kozue there.

Despite the flawed handling of the story, the cast were brilliant in their potrayal of the characters with special mention to Sawajiri Erika. Ever since that saga which made her look like an arrogant star with no work ethics, Sawajiri seems to be shunned by the industry in general so Ninagawa's decision to engage her for this movie was a very daring one. Of course, Sawajiri repays the favour with a very engaging performance where she literally transforms into Lilico and it doesn't feel as if she's acting as someone else. Lilico may be hated for her haughtiness and manipulative ways but you also can't help but empathize with her as she crumbles under work pressure and the side effects of the plastic surgery. The scene where she bawls like a child after Kozue starts to make her presence felt in the entertainment world just makes you want to console her. In addition, given that Sawajiri had made her big break through "Ichi Litre no Namida" which essentially presented her as this sweet, young thing, her willingness to take on such hardcore intimate scenes can go either way i.e. people view it as a career turnaround point and will be willing to give her a shot at other genres in future or she will be reduced to somewhat like a star who can only do such scenes to grab attention. Fortunately, Ninagawa packages the scenes in such a way that it's not downright crude porn so it may provide Sawajiri a much-needed push back into the limelight. If the movie had done much better in terms of reviews and box office takings, that may actually happen.

Besides Sawajiri, Oomori Nao, Terajima Shinobu, Ayano Go, Mizuhara Kiko, Kubozuka Yosuke and Momoi Kaori all did well in their respective ways and allowed their characters to stand out. Oomori's Asada seemed like an onlooker to observe what was happening to Lilico so it felt as if he was not involved in any way with regard to Lilico's downward spiral. However, that meeting he had with her at the aquarium appeared bland and ordinary on the surface but there were a lot of emotions flowing underneath where Lilico tried to keep her cool and insist that she couldn't work with Asada while he was trying all sorts of ways to get her to agree. That scene was one of the highlights in the movie as far as I'm concerned.

Terajima and Ayano may seem like a very unlikely but intriguing couple especially since she deliberately dressed in a way that made her look plain and rather unattractive while Ayano's image was that of a young man who could practically have any woman he wanted. In most stories, the scriptwriter would have probably have arranged for the young man to be less emotionally involved with the older woman while she should be smitten with her guy. However, Hada and Okumura seemed truly in love with each other (it didn't feel like Okumura was with Hada only for her money) but it was a bit hard to comprehend why Hada would not stop Lilico from laying hands on her love or help Okumura pull away from Lilico's influence. This is an odd couple but I think the two of them did pretty well to keep me interested in them.

Mizuhara only appeared in the second half of the film but put up a memorable performance as Kozue who represents naturalness as compared to Lilico who is built on a series of lies and pretenses. The best part from her would have to be when Hada tries to kill Kozue at Lilico's orders and she seems totally nonchalant about it. To Kozue, beauty is something she did not ask for. In fact, to maintain it, she had to resort to vomiting after meals so it didn't look like she was enjoying what her beauty had brought about. This was something much more jarring to Lilico's ears because if Kozue was obsessed with beauty just like she did, revenge would have meant more but Kozue couldn't care less so it meant nothing even if Lilico managed to hurt Kozue.

Since Kubozuka's literal fall from grace years ago, he hasn't been seen in that many dramas or movies but his short appearance in this movie was definitely eye-catching. The wildness demonstrated during Nanbu's scene with Lilico showed a great contrast against when he was telling her wistfully about his inability to give up his privileges in a well-to-do family. It's a pity that he doesn't get to do major roles these days because his talent definitely can be better utilised but given his controversial ways, I can't blame the TV stations and film companies for treading with caution.

Momoi's character was eye-catching from the start as she showed two distinct faces i.e. one who's like an angel to Lilico and the other as someone who has a lot to do with her downfall. Tada is one ruthless woman who can ditch Lilico once the latter is no longer as profitable and she can lie through her teeth to pacify her former cash cow. Momoi manages the transition between the two quite effortlessly as if these two contrasting faces aren't not that different after all. However, like what I mentioned above, Tada and Lilico's relationship really needs more in-depth exploration to give a much needed angle to why things happened but it was a pity that it did not materialise.

And my ratings for this movie...

Story: 5 out of 10 (Flawed but not beyond redemption)

Acting: 8 out of 10 (The cast did well in the respective ways especially Sawajiri who totally immersed herself into Lilico's world but the actors need a more in-depth story to bring out the hidden potential in their roles. Too bad that this was lacking.)

Theme song: 7 out of 10 (Although Hamasaki Ayumi's song "evolution" is a rather old number, I think the reason it was chosen had a lot to do with its lyrics which fitted Lilico's circumstances. It's a pity that they didn't make use of the song more and only left it till the ending credits.)

Visual effects / Scenery: 10 out 10 (Ninagawa's great with the visuals, what more can be said? A lot of attention and detail was paid to the visuals so the colours, sets and costumes were really one visual treat.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 7 out of 10 (Generally good across the board)

Total: 37 out of 50