Story: An accusation of theft unravels a small group of friends and puts their trust and friendship to the ultimate test. Claiming to be framed, Eiji is sent off to a labor “prison” without a fair trial. His childhood friend, Sabu, sticks by his side through the thick and thin. As Eiji continues to serve his sentence at the prison, Sabu’s social life begins to prosper. However, Sabu is willing to put his own well-being on the line for Eiji. Through triumphs and failures, redemption and discouragement, these two friends not only discovers things about each other, but they also discover themselves.

Review: Miike rarely dabbles in the period drama genre, aside from the three educational flicks he made prior to “Sabu.” Whenever Miike comes out with a film, people take notice! Feeling a bit let down from “Full Metal Yakuza,” I was ready for an engaging drama from the one and only Miike.

Was this film a drama? Yes. Was it engaging? Not really….

I don’t know what happened! Whenever the pace slows down in a Miike movie and the dialogue kicks in, usually it’s something that can really draw the audience in. Usually that piece of dialogue has some sort of content in which the viewer can interpret to their own liking. Even if it lacks interpretative content, it usually acts to intensify the film itself. In “Sabu,” the only major dialogue that has any true value is the first conversation we see between an adolescent Eiji and Sabu. But the only purpose it serves is to inject a sense of viewer disgruntlement to the character of Sabu. The thing is, it’s not very wise to get the viewer to possibly dislike Sabu from the get-go because his character isn’t very likable at all.

Miike’s character studies are usually fascinating and intriguing. “Sabu” is a very character-driven film, and with a film like this, you can’t afford for the dialogue to be empty and boring. A revelation usually comes from a gradual build up of events and self-actualization. In “Sabu,” it can happen with the click of a finger. Case-in-point: The pimp of the female lead in the film is sent to jail because of a public scene started by Sabu. The pimp, Roku, is a callous man. He would be the last guy you’dexpect to save a woman from a burning building right? Guess what, he’s the ONLY guy (aside from an injured Sabu) that would do it. Between his imprisonment and sacrificing of his life for a woman, you only see him look at Sabu, and no else. No deep conversation about how he mistreats women, no exchange of words that may hint at his regret of his pass actions, just straight-up saving women because he felt bad, and even that’s to the viewers discretion. That’s one of the biggest problems with this film. Characters are given traits without any clear explanation. Eiji wins the respect of everyone in the prison, even the officials and guards, by beating people up. You would think the guards would straighten him out for starting fights all the time, but they don’t. He defends an old man once and continues his fighting and somehow, everyone treats him like the village wise man. The motley cast presents itself to the viewers as nothing more than static characters, which is a damn shame because some of them you want to know more about (particularly Eiji’s girlfriend). Even with a two hour running time, you would think the core cast would at least get some devotion to character development. With material ripe for dramatic beauty (the script was based off of a Shugoro Yamaoto novel), it’s just awful the film turned out the way it did.

There is one aspect of the film that is worthy of praise. Tomoko Tabata’s beautiful cinematography paired with Miike’s vision is inspiring. The Edo-period is brought to life with luscious visuals and eye-soothing composure. Each character elegantly acts against a gorgeous backdrop. What is especially powerful is the constant contrast of serenity and dread. In a scene where Sabu visits Eiji in the prison, the interior of the room is dark and claustrophobic, whereas through the window, you can see the ocean freely gliding into the shore and washing back away. However, characters should have been the main concern in this film.

Many people have said that Miike Takashi films are all hype. When I first heard about this film, the hype was that Japan’s two hottest young actors were brought together in this film that celebrated Nagoya Televison’s 40th anniversary. That in itself wasn’t exactly mind-fracturing hype. I also walked in this film figuring it was Miike playing it straight for once. Having really no expectations of this film, I was still disappointed. You can say that for Miike, this is a very respectable drama and he’s done quite a decent job with it. It isn’t his main forte in film and he should be commended for experimenting. Sure, it’s decent, but seeing the character studies he’s done in the past while also displaying bizarre cinematic presence, this is unacceptable. To be fair would have to be judging it as an individual piece of cinema, and sadly, “Sabu” just doesn’t deliver.