Something strange, in your Neighbourhood...

#22 - Kairo (Pulse) - 2001

"Would you like to meet a Ghost?"

It's hard to write any kind of plot description for this given that there are two of them running at the same time, which I'm not ashamed to say caused all sorts of confusion the first time I saw it, and then just mild confusion the second time. To put it as simply as possible, people are offing themselves at an alarming rate as they keep seeing Ghosts all over the Internet.

I'm aware that the plot sounds hokey, and in any other hands I'm sure it would be. But Writer/Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has more interesting things on his mind than that. 'Kairo' is a film about loneliness and detachment more than a film about hauntings. One character puts forward that wherever it is that people go when they die has become full, and now they've found a way over to our side. One Ghost explains to another character just how sad it is being alone for all eternity. So they appear on computer screens and on webcams asking others to join them, until those people fade away and become Ghosts too, leaving nothing but a black mark where they once were.

This is also a horror film too, and at times I found it incredibly creepy. There are some individual scenes that get you, like a suicide from a tall building that's just absolutely perfect. But there's also an oppressive atmosphere to the film, right from frame one. It reminds me of David Lynch in that there's something you can't quite put your finger on, but you know it's just not right.

It's not surprising that the main focus is the Internet. Though a wonderful tool in many ways (Of course this blog wouldn't have been possible - though I could've created a much cooler Fanzine instead) it also serves as a perfect tool for lack of communication. Sure it's now got easier with instant messaging and email, but it's become so impersonal. We would rather talk to someone through a keyboard than face to face. We would rather see 'LOL' on the screen than see someone smile for real. More than anything 'Kairo' seems born of despair, that as we make giant leaps in technology we become a lot more lonely. Everything around us is artificial, even conversation.

Outside of writing this blog I made a vow to not spend so much time on my laptop anymore. What were people my age doing not 10 years ago? Certainly not this. And I bet they had a better time of it too. More than anything I don't want to end up like one of those Ghosts, with nothing but a faint mark to prove that I once was.