Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa takes a second shot at ‘Hebi no michi,’ his 1998 Japanese V-Cinema movie. Here, Kurosawa steps away from Japan’s criminal underbelly, remaking his film in Paris, as a predominately French-language thriller.
Back in 1998, Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa) made V-Cinema movies as quickly as Roger Corman used to make horror films. Most were straight-to-video, some had a limited theatrical release. V-Cinema usually meant low-budget action: bullets, explosions, crime stories and thrill rides.
‘Hebi no michi’ was dark and contemplative. Two men, Miyashita and Nijima, were hellbent on revenge. Carving a bloody swathe through everyone Miyashita held responsible for the brutal murder of his daughter.
The original 1998 Japanese movie, starring Teruyuki Kagawa as Miyashita and V-Cinema legend Show Aikawa as Nijima, rapidly gained cult status.
French cinemagoers have developed a taste for director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s movies. He has twice won the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard prize, for ‘Tokyo Sonata’ in 2008, and for ‘Journey to the Shore’ in 2015.
His international reputation was cemented in 2020 when his film, ‘Wife of a Spy,’ won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival.
Given the opportunity to remake one of his earlier movies in France, Kurosawa jumped at the chance, immediately choosing ‘Hebi no michi,’ ‘Serpent’s Path.’
‘Serpent’s Path,’ ‘La Voie du serpent,’ 2024, updates and makes a number of subtle but effective changes.
Kô Shibasaki (Battle Royale; 47 Ronin; The Boy and the Heron) and Damien Bonnard (Les Misérables; Poor Things; The French Dispatch) star in this taut and brilliant thriller.
Damien Bonnard takes the role of Albert Bacheret. The original’s Miyashita was ex-Yakuza. Part of Japan’s criminal underworld. Here, Bacheret is a bumbling, grieving father. He shambles, broken and hurting but unstoppable.
Kô Shibasaki as Sayoko Mijima holds every frame she appears in. Mijima’s stillness is in marked contrast to the stumbling Bacheret. Mijima is a psychiatrist rather than the original’s schoolteacher. As the movie’s mysteries are revealed one by one, Mijima keeps her secrets.
Shibasaki and Bonnard are ably supported by a cast of French character actors including Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Quantum of Solace) and Grégoire Colin (The Dreamlife of Angels; The Vourdalak).
Kurosawa shifts the story from Japan’s criminal underworld to the dark side of European charitable organisations. Anonymous foundations, with secretive inner circles. Wider conspiracies that hide unspeakable crimes.
‘Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves’ was originally a Japanese proverb.
In Serpent’s Path, you need to dig half a graveyard to bury the dead. The first act of abduction, dehumanisation and revenge rapidly spirals as deeper secrets are uncovered and the body count rises.
Is anyone telling the truth? Are they lying and pointing fingers to shift blame and save their own skin?
Serpent’s Path winds left and right, zigzagging as you follow the clues, the confessions and the trail of the dead.
Avoid spoilers, buy tickets and immerse yourself in this razor-sharp thriller.
To book tickets to Serpent’s Path, please visit https://japanesefilmfestival.net/film/serpents-path/.
