Man, Woman and the Wall (DVD)

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Continuing this summer´s trend of showing positive portrayals of eavesdropping (see: "The Dark Knight"), "Man, Woman and the Wall" is an attempt by writer/director Masashi Yamamoto to showcase the flipside of the oft-talked about practice. It´s more than that, too, as reporter Ryo (Keita Ohno) becomes fascinated with his next door neighbor Satsuki (Aoi Sola) thanks to a very thin wall separating their small apartments. The more he hears, the more he creates the world Satsuki lives in from an impossibly kitschy apartment to her amorous boyfriend, Yuta.

"Man, Woman and the Wall" doesn´t much bother with the moral or legal questions surrounding listening to a neighbor. No, the screenplay allows Ryo to poke fun at himself a couple times, commenting to those around him he is taken with Satsuki. He´s a voyeur, masturbating to the sounds of Yuta and Satsuki having sex. He´s a daydreamer, imagining the events on the other side of the wall. He´s even a good guy, in the long run. A little odd and obsessive, sure. But not someone to be feared.

As the next door beauty received harassing phone call after harassing phone call (the caller wants to screw her, in those words, if the subtitles are to be believed). It´s fairly obvious after the first on-screen call and her subsequent actions who the perp turns out to be. The movie revolves around hat Ryo hears, how his feelings grow despite a lack of contact with the object of his affection. A little breaking, a little entering, some scripted theatrics…ah well, there aren´t any twists or turns in the film. Not even a who-dun-it or a good softcore porn flick, the plotting brings us from one inevitable scene to another, all of which add up to…something.

Yamamoto´s mission, according to the making of featurette, was to create a good film with a low budget. Utilizing a handful of sets an even smaller number of characters, he is able to distill the story down to its key components. This isn´t a standard chase film or a detective story. The script isn´t concerned with those aspects. Rather, it becomes a slow meditation on the imagination and how it helps people relate to one another. Each piece of the film is borne out of what has come before. Even the ending "fight" scene turns out to be a natural extension of the relationships we´ve been following. In that sense, Yamamoto succeeds in bringing his vision to the screen.

In talking about the theme, we have to discuss the actions taken by Ryo and Yuta. Ryo´s role in this escapade has already been mentioned: he listens and, in essence, saves Satsuki not because he sets out to, but because something interferes with his enjoyment. There is no altruistic method behind his proverbial madness, nothing to suggest to anyone he is anything but a pervert. Yet Yuta, with the mini-camera he uses to spy on his girlfriend, is demonized. All he does, to play devil´s advocate, is get a thrill from being a visual (instead of auditory) voyeur. Is there any real difference in their actions?

Both invade a woman´s privacy, albeit through different means. Both are more concerned with themselves and their pleasure than her life. Both men end up breaking into her apartment. Is it only the eventual outcome which redeems Ryo and vilifies Yuta? By all rights, Satsuki should be terrified of living in that apartment again, knowing what has gone on in it. The screenplay doesn´t necessarily concern itself with that way of looking at the story. It is on a single track designed to change the way eavesdroppers are perceived, no one bothers with the flip side. Ryo isn´t a good guy in the conventional sense; he is just as much a pervert as Yuta.

Perhaps, I will concede, Japanese culture is different than that in America. I´ll even admit my own take on the material may not be how it is seen in Japan, by the actors or intended by the script. That is always a distinct problem when taking in art from a foreign creator. What societal norms are they assuming and wanting the audience to assume? Should we, the foreign audience, simply go along with the ride, regardless of how our own system of beliefs and values tells us to respond? I don´t know.