My thoughts on Ritual (aka Shiki-Jitsu, aka 式日), 2000 by Hideaki Anno

Preface

Anno is best known for his work in animation, however he has written and worked on a handful of live-action films as well. Of those most well known are probably the new Godzilla and Ultraman films, which I have no interest in because it's basically Japanese capeshit, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that he also made a slightly less known film, an art-house drama about a burnt out apathetic doomer and a schizo bpd foid who simultaneously desire each others' presence but hate the idea of emotional intimacy.

If that sounds like a certain other piece of his you'd be correct, and the similarities don't end there. However I want to say that it is sad in a way that that IP became as big as it is, because it is now inevitable that any work Anno ever puts out will be viewed through the lens of and compared to his Magnum Opus, and it is my belief that this movie has its own two legs to stand on and should be experienced as its own thing rather than as some sort of companion piece or additional commentary. As such, to avoid eclipsing this movie, I will not be comparing it to the show in question and in fact will even avoid naming it. Make no mistake though, if you come into this movie having seen it you will see the parallels and be able to clearly recognize it as Anno's work.

Summary and my interpretation

The film begins with a tired Director who had a streak of bad luck returning to his childhood town, where he meets a woman lying on the train tracks. They do a bit of chitchat and it quickly becomes apparent that there's something wrong with the woman. Despite that, a mutual connection forms and they decide to spend the days together. During that time it becomes apparent that the woman is not simply disturbed in the classical sense, but rather she is charmed. Each day she must perform a ritual, a sequence of events which is what keeps her alive, and each day she proclaims that tomorrow is her birthday. The rest of the film centers around these two characters trying to understand each other throughout the 31 days that they spend together, but not without discovering something about themselves in the process. While the film itself has no supernatural elements and everything we see is self inflicted, it very much reminds me of a fairy tale, particularly something like Sleeping Beauty- just as the prince tries to understand and break the curse in order to save the princess, so does the Director try and discover what it is that forces the woman to act in this particular way, and he does so by every day getting a small tidbit of information about who this woman is and her mysterious past. Whilst very secluded, it is obvious that the woman desires Director's company, however she never lets him get close as there is something that prevents her from being able to fully open herself. She is clearly vulnerable, and so shields herself from anyone who might become close and hurt her. Similarly the Director feels loneliness and attempts to connect with this woman, but often gets shut down by her hostility and grows increasingly annoyed of what he believes are her attempts at escapism- seeing her behaviour as an escape into a fantasy land where nothing is real and nothing can hurt her, which is so disassociated from reality that even time doesn't pass, hence the woman being stuck in this routine and proclaiming about her upcoming birthday, which never comes. The Director himself is the complete opposite, being tired of running away from problems and wishing to live in the real world where things actually happen and matter. I suppose it is ironic given how he literally fled Tokyo to escape his work problems. In wanting to be together, the Director desires to pull the woman out of her escapist fantasies, but similarly the woman tries to pull the Director into her imaginary world, which is clearly seen in her desire for him to be around all the time and in her expressing sadness when left alone. She want him to become another object in her fantasy, so anything that breaks his permanence and causes him to disappear, or anything that shows him as an individual- like interacting with other people, taking phonecalls or talking to women- evokes jealousy, as then he is no longer hers.

By this point I was sure that this is a movie about love and difficulties of relationships and honest human connections, but it wasn't entirely the case. Instead the movie turned to exploring the causes of such self-damaging behaviors. We get to learn relatively early on that the woman was damaged by events within her family- her father and sister are dead, and her mother leaves aggressive messages on her phone, begging for her to come back, which she ignores. The sorrow weighs heavily on this woman as any time there is rain it reminds her of these people and she secludes herself further. She is unable to fall asleep because the idea of being left alone crushes her, yet at the same time she hates the idea of s*x because it requires fully opening up to another human.

Further down the road we get to know that it isn't actually the sorrow from the loss of loved ones that haunts her, but rather her perceived guilt. She believes to be complicit in the death of her sister which came as a result of their dispute over a man, and it is coupled with the neglect she experienced from her mother as we come to find that there was emotional abuse in the household she grew up in. Her mother similarly chased her father away, for which the woman was never able to forgive her. As a matter of fact, she placed what she believed was a curse on the mother which would kill her on the woman's birthday. As you might have figured by now, she later regretted this decision and in an attempt to not have to live with the burden of her past crimes she isolated herself from the world. To avoid her mother's death, she postpones her birthday every day. However for that she is also punished, as not having killed her mother in life, each night she has to relive and experience killing her in her own imagination. This naturally leads the Director to a way to break this curse, which comes at an opportunity to reunites the woman with her mother and finally allowing them to reconcile their feelings. During this some factual misconceptions are also cleared up, as it is revealed that the woman's sister is actually alive, so perhaps the talk of death was in a more metaphorical sense, or perhaps the guilt weighed so heavily on the woman that it distorted her perception. This interaction with her own mother clearly affects the woman deeply as we see her change before our eyes and start showing emotions that we haven't seen from her before. In this way she finally begins to crawl out of her shell and into the real world, being shown that it is not as hostile as she was made to believe. But she is not the only one that's changed, as throughout the film we see the Director too opening up more and more, as she encouraged him to be more playful, more cheerful, and to chase the things he actually wants to do and values instead of going down the predetermined path carved out by society.

The movie ends with the woman marking a date in the calendar and announcing her actual birthday, thus showing that the curse has finally been broken.

Closing thoughts

This is a very heartfelt, welcoming movie which feels nice to watch after so many tough and cynical ones. It is not for everybody and not quite straightforward, but I'd say it goes into the lifefuel category and earns a 7.5/10 from me. Being an artsy film it is also just pleasant to look at- the shots and settings are beautiful and alien and there is a lot of play with the colour red. Though I think there's only 1 musical track through the entire film, that piano jingle is very memorable. The film also nails the feeling of loneliness and isolation, as besides the main 2 characters there's maybe 3 scenes where you ever see other people, and the spiritual barriers between these two characters lead to awkward interactions which feel very human and close, yet at the same time distant. It's a story about 2 people wanting to fall in love with each other and being unable due to their own shortcomings, okay? Not unlike the characters, the film has a few issues of its own however, mainly that it feels like it drags on at some points, but then whizzes past at others, especially closer to the end. There are also some plot points that feel redundant or unfinished, or at least I was not able to fully catch on to their meaning. Still, it serves as a very poignant criticism of escapism, after watching it I have a newfound desire to live and experience things, in spite of all the darkness that may exist in this world. As unabomber once said: Put ya darn phone down

It does feel very much like Anno's work though. It is unmistakable that he made this film.

Getting to see the movie

So I actually had a lot of trouble trying to find this film and went through a lot of hoops to get it. From what happened to rdrama movie nights I understand that Aevann doesn't like us sharing copyright-infringing material on here directly so I will not be posting a download link in this post. However, if you cannot find it online PM me on here I will see about uploading the movie and the subtitle files I have (afaik a dubbed version doesn't exist) and sending you the link.

This offer is available in perpetuity- if you decide to watch it in 10 years and I'm still active on here, I'll keep my word