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Freeze Me

2000, Movie, NR, 101 mins

Freeze Me: Review

FREEZE ME
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When it comes to the often seedy world of exploitation films, the rape-revenge thriller has always been close to the bottom of the moral barrel. Films like I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1983), HOUSE BY THE LAKE (1976) and SUDDEN DEATH (1985) attempt to justify the sadistic spectacle of a brutal sexual assault by transforming the victim into a savage avenger who hunts down and slaughters each of her attackers. But while closely following the formula, this admittedly brutal film by Japanese director Takashi Ishii — whose credits include the ingeniously twisted yakuza thrillers GONIN 1 & 2 and the popular "Black Angel" series — is an exception. It downplays the initial assault, referring to it only in fragmented flashbacks, while offering a cogent critique of ongoing attitudes about rape and its victims, particularly in Japan. Five years after a brutal gang rape drove her from her small hometown, Chihiro (Harumi Inoue) has made a new life for herself in Tokyo. She has a good job, an adoring fiancé (Shunsuke Matsuoka) and a place of her own in a high-rise apartment building. Her security is rudely shattered one morning when Hirokawa (Kazuki Kitamura), one of her attackers, shows up at her door and forces his way in. Knowing that she won't dare call the police — fear of the stigma of having been raped kept Chihiro from calling the cops five years earlier — Hirokawa makes himself at home while awaiting the arrival of fellow rapists Kojima (Shingo Tsurumi) and Baba (Naoto Takenaka). Baba has been serving time on an unrelated assault charge and is just now getting out of prison; to celebrate, they all plan on treating Chihiro to a repeat performance. Terrified that Hirokawa will expose her "past," she lets him stay. But after her boyfriend learns the truth about her "guest" and bolts in horrified disgust — just as she feared — Chihiro decides to take matters into her own hands. Recent studies have shown that sexual assault continues to be one of the most underreported crimes in Japan, where a premium is still placed on a woman's deference to men and rape is an acceptable element in popular entertainment. With this perceptive, however bloody, film, Ishii makes it disturbingly clear that a culturally instilled sense of shame and fear of being shunned mean that women like Chihiro are doubly victimized, both by their attackers and the society that should protect them. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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