Chaos is a taut kidnapping thriller that's as tightly bound as its female victim. Ditching the supernatural chills of his breakout horror movie Ring and its sequels, Japanese director Hideo Nakata delivers both the brooding sexiness of the Wachowski Brothers' Bound and the tricky narrative twists of Gallic classic Les Diaboliques. It begins plainly enough, as handyman Kuroda (Masato Hagiwara) kidnaps the stunningly beautiful wife (Miki Nakatani) of a wealthy businessman (Ken Mitsuishi). But there's far more to this tale of ransom and rope burns than meets the eye.
Made in 1999 but with a belated release in the West after the Ring phenomenon swept the world, Chaos switches backwards and forwards in time as it sets up a Rashomon-style mystery thriller in which everything seems different on each retelling. In the process, kidnap victim Nakatani (a familiar face from the Ring films) transforms from submissive victim to manipulative minx as both husband and handyman fall under her deadly spell.
"SUBVERSIVE SULTRINESS"
Taking place in the grey zone of amorality, this modern-day film noir immerses itself in a distinctly Japanese cinematic tradition. With its gorgeous, high-heeled heroine trussed up and gagged in a series of kinky scenes, the film is an homage to the sadomasochistic fantasies of the "pink" (pinku eiga) softcore movie trade - in particular Masaru Konuma's perverse 1974 tale Wife To Be Sacrificed (Nakata was once Konuma's assistant and would later make a full-length documentary about the legendary erotic filmmaker, Sadistic And Masochistic).
Simmering beneath the eroticism are a series of dark and deadly power games that leave both kidnapper and victim as compliant as each other. As a modern day noir, it's intensely fascinating - which is, no doubt, why a Hollywood remake has already been lined up. What are the chances that director Jonathan Glazer and Robert De Niro are already wondering quite how to tame its subversive sultriness?
In Japanese with English subtitles.
Chaos (Kaosu) (2004)
