Ryo Ishibashi plays Saga Sosuke, a detective who is shot while chasing a murder suspect. Sosuke's gun disappears during the confusion and he is forced to resign from the police force. As if all of this wasnit bad enough, his estranged wife decides to leave him and his gun is being used in a series of murders. With only one lung as the result of the shooting and not even a badge to back him up, Sosuke begins to attempt to solve the murders himself.

Shinji Aoyama directs his divergent remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1949 film, Stray Dog. With his usual flair for surrealism and a deadpan style, Aoyama creates an eerie mood and puts the main character in a frightening and desperate situation. The musical score is a minimal one consisting of sparse and echoic melodies which adds to the strangeness of An Obsession. Unfortunately, the film doesn't maintain the mood it introduces in the beginning as it drags toward its conclusion.

The performance from Ryo Ishibashi (The Grudge, Suicide Club) is perfect in that he is able to capture the obsessive nature of Sosuke as he searches tirelessly for his stolen gun. Kazuma Suzuki (Crazy Lips) is effectively creepy as the murderous and extremely psychotic, Kozo. Japanese horror regular Taro Suwa (Tomie: Re-birth, Uzumaki, Another Heaven) plays Ichii, Sosuke's ineffectual but kindly partner.

After the odd but fun Wild Life and the horrifying (in a good way) Embalming, I found An Obsession to be quite a disappointment. It starts very strong and then completely fizzles out in the final third. I'm of the opinion that filmmakers that lean towards the arty side should show some restraint, especially when editing. Aoyama is capable of making very dynamic and entertaining pictures but whatever the cause; An Obsession could be more of either.

Fans of Shinji Aoyama's work should enjoy An Obsession and fans of Kurosawa's original Stray Dog will want to see this strange take on it made near 50 years later. The film is definitely moody but runs out of steam toward the end. The fragile one-lunged hero, hypnosis, weird altars, mysterious cults, and one deranged leukemic murderer all come together to make this a very tripped out film. And just what the hell is with the death squad riding around in the jeep anyway?

DVD Stuff

An Obsession is released on Region 1 DVD by Artsmagic DVD and it is up to the fine standards of their previous releases. The 1.66.1 widescreen and the Dolby 5.1 make for a nice looking and sounding release. There is a great interview with the soft spoken Aoyama who discusses the influence of Jean-Luc Godard on his filmmaking and the themes of An Obsession. Another fact-filled Jasper Sharp (Midnight Eye) commentary graces the disc and there are also some bio/filmographies of actors as well.