Toshiharu Ikeda's MERMAID LEGEND (1984) - new restoration!
An underground gem from 1980s Japanese cinema, we present a restoration of Toshiharu Ikeda’s environmental revenge-thriller, a lyrical and mesmerizing descent into horror.
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Oct 08, 2024, 8:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
Mermaid Legend (Ningyo densetsu)
directed by Toshiharu Ikeda
1984, Japan, 110m, DCP
West Coast premiere of a new restoration courtesy of Error 4444
An underground gem from 1980s Japanese cinema, Toshiharu Ikeda’s environmental revenge-thriller is a lyrical and mesmerizing descent into horror, building to a furious climax that must be seen to be believed. In a small seaside village, fisherman Keisuke and his wife Migiwa (Mari Shirato) work on a fishing boat together, where they witness a murder arranged by the head of an industrial development corporation. Migiwa’s life is thrust into chaos after Keisuke is subsequently killed and she gradually transforms from a grieving widow to a relentless assailant on a quest for vengeance, both for the death of her husband and the exploitation of nature.
Adapted from Kazuhiko Miyaya’s manga, Mermaid Legend was produced by the Directors Company, a production house acclaimed for its avant-garde approach and investment in young and emerging filmmakers, including Shinji Sōmai and Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The recent discovery of long-lost negatives of many of their releases has allowed for the reappraisal of a whole new era of Japanese cinema; with this new restoration, Mermaid Legend's forceful blend of myth and exploitation cinema is poised to be rediscovered. Please note: this film contains a sequence of sexual assault which may upset some viewers.
In Japanese with English subtitles. Special thanks to Alexander Fee (Japan Society) and Logan Hamrick (Error 4444).
“Incurring a siren’s sanguinary wrath—one which can only be described as a sheer force of nature—the elegiac Mermaid Legend is a brooding requiem for loss, a cautionary parable for man’s true acquiescence to the natural world.” -Japan Society
“A masterful, transcendental work that utilizes sumptuous underwater photography and a delicate score from Toshiyuki Honda to great effect.” - James Balmont, Dazed