A Snake Of June (2003) Movie Information:

A Snake Of June (2003) Directed by: Shinya Tsukamoto A Snake Of June (2003) Written by: Not available at this time A Snake Of June (2003) Cast: Not available at this time

A Snake Of June (2003) U.S. Distributor: Not available at this time A Snake Of June (2003) U.K. Distributor: Tartan Films

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A Snake Of June (2003) Synopsis:

A Snake Of June (2003) Movie Review:

The Snake in question refers to a stalker (the role taken by Tsukamoto), who worms his way into the lives of Rinko (Kurosawa), and her husband Shigehiko (Koutari), by posting her an envelope stating it to be 'Your Husband's Secrets'. Inside are photos of Rinko masturbating.
June is the rainy season in Japan, and as a result, the rain here is incessant and signifies the outlet of pent up emotions and feelings.
Due to Rinko's fear of the negatives falling into the wrong hands, she goes along with the demands of her stalker.
He promises to destroy the negatives only after Rinko carries out some 'tasks' he has set for her, which are mainly designed for his own selfish kicks.
Rinko and her husband are seemingly happy in their loving but passionless life, but are drifting apart so slowly they barely notice it. Both are workaholics and Shigehiko also has a cleaning obsession, brought on by his fear of dirt and bodily fluids, which makes it impossible for Rinko to have an intimate relationship with him.


She tries to deal with the kinky stalker in her own way, and it seems to work, until he begins harassing her husband too. As a result of this all of the pent up emotions he has bottled up begins welling out. Can Rinko and Shigehiko learn and recover from the experiences and save their marriage?

This movie appears to be a serious vanity project - not only does Tsukamoto direct, produce and co-star, but he also wrote the screenplay, edited and took charge of cinematography and art direction. This creates the notion that he is striving to create a personal vision of his story.

A very distinctive 'art-house' atmosphere is created here; the monochrome with a tint of blue in which the film is shot creates a very icy, clinical feel. This is in strong contrast to other movies that show a lot of flesh, which normally go for the soft-focus, vivid colour approach. There is also a creepy shaky-cam, grainy feel, presumably to echo Rinko's constant feeling of being watched.

However, this effort to create a mood is mainly in vain as the repetitive, quasi soft-core jazz soundtrack by Chu Ishikawa detracts somewhat from Tsukamoto's hard work on visual elements. It is too booming and doesn't always fully suit the mood of the scene.
It's also a bit repetitive, the same stagy music is used for the full spectrum of emotions and it stifles visual attempts to convey these.
Perhaps Tsukamoto should have taken the reins on music too.

Some of the scenes are particularly unsettling, in particular one in a secret club where Japanese men get their thrills from watching people have sex then drown them together in a glass tank. Lovely. So be forewarned, this is not one for the easily offended.
Anyone watching this movie to see bare flesh is likely to be disappointed anyway - especially when they see Shigehiko without his business suit on.

There is some movement between reality and fantasy, but it is not really signified which makes the story hard to follow. It's a good idea to show what's going on in the character's heads and with better execution may have helped in the understanding of their actions. Kurosawa is very convincing as Rinko, she plays straight - laced and minx equally well, but her role could have been developed to let a little more personality through.

The problem with this movie is it goes from one extreme to another. Repression to complete anarchy. The humiliation endured by Rinko is sometimes pretty hard to watch, as she seems to accept and even enjoy it.

The themes of terminal illness and disfigurement are also thrown into the mix, a little too late to be fully analysed and dealt with.
To have sex, fear and death in the same movie and not verbally explore the impact these issues have on one another properly seems a bit of a waste.

It would have been beneficial to have had some more dialogue between husband and wife towards the end of the movie too.
They are supposed to be a happy couple despite their bedroom shortcomings but there is little chemistry here to work on.

There are things to like about "Snake of June". It is well - shot in an effectively claustrophobic big city location, with an interesting premise. It's a shame that in execution it comes across as clumsy and anaemic.

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A Snake Of June (2003) review written by: Terresa Gaffney