Blind Beast (1969)

Spirit · Far East Spirit Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Posts: 950

Aki, a young and beautiful model, witnesses a strange man in her photo exhibtion, caressing a sculpture of her with utmost affection. She feels a strange impact of his actions, as if the stranger was to possess her through his touching of her sculpture, and runs away in fear.

Later, tired from work she calls upon a massagist in her home. A blind specialist takes care of her, caressing her body in a most sensual way. With horror, she realises it is the man from the exhibition. When she wants to get rid of him, he sedates her. It is a setup of him and his mother. They both take her to a remote warehouse into the blind man's studio which is filled with bizarre oversized bodyparts - sculptures the man has created himself. He has taken the beauty to his realm: a realm of darkness, a realm where touches are the only known kind of pleasure.

From the first minute "Blind Beast" is a most exceptional, original movie, a work of art like the sculptures of the blind artist, however one which will shock the faint-hearted with how far it takes the initial premise. In retrospect, it can be divided in three parts: the first part introduces Aki, who is the female protagonist and acting as a third person narrator throughout the movie, and with it the audience to Michio, the male protagonist (antagonist), and the realm of the blind: having lived without eyesight for his entire live, raised by his mother alone, he has been deeply isolated for his whole life, and only knows to appreciate the world through his touches. It is the movie's first ingenious strike to turn this natural victim into a kidnapper aiming to get the object of his greatest tactile desire - Aki as representation of the ultimate female body - and recreate its perfection in a work of perfection. In this first part, Aki is like a foreign body in his realm, and their dynamics are one of "beauty and beast" (hence the title). The second part adds the mother and explores the complex triangle that starts to form between her, her son and Aki, who for the first time takes it upon her to enter and act within his realm, albeit with the sole aim to escape it. It is at this moment that Michio's motivation begins to change - after he initially was just dealing with Aki in the same way as previous "models" (people he massaged) - passively recreating what he has touched in sculptures, and then interacting with them - he realizes that it is the real flesh and blood that poses the ultimate temptation. So in the third part, when she finally willingly gives in and lives his realm with him together, the pleasure of tactile sensations is taken towards new heights and depths. In this part, she no longer "sees" him as the beast, but feels him as her beauty counterpart. While in the second part it is mostly the girl who acts manipulative to regain her freedom, this backfires here and she willfully surrenders to her fate. With that, the movie returns to its exploitist angle (with the main focus of action being the girl), though all actions here appear to be based on mutual consent. However, it is obvious that she has long lost control. Still, Michio never really is the cold-blooded perpetrator, but appears as a victim of circumstances himself, the boy who is unaware of the consequences of his actions, caught in his own obsession when his pleasure is taken to unkown intensity. So in the end, a series of events set in motion first by the one, then by the other, leads to a chain reaction of unpredicted ferocity, leaving both protagonists - the beauty and the beast - as a bizarre ensemble of human sculptures whose sole purpose of live has become this base sensation of tactile pleasure - towards its ultimate rendition.

Filmed in sensual colors and featuring a restrained soundtrack, it is the interaction between Aki and Michio that takes centerstage during the roughly 90 minutes of this 1969 movie. Slow in pace, but memorable, never graphic in its depiction, but explicit in its most outrageous implications, "Blind Beast" takes a simple yet original idea and unleashes a storm of devotion and sensuality, obsession and possession, sadomasochism and mutual perversion you might not have seen before.

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