The Wall Man

Here we have yet another Japanese film that squanders its potential by succumbing to the all too familiar trend of having more endings than it could possibly make use of. Ultimately The Wall Man is still an eerie, thoughtful and refreshing film in 90% of its facets, but it’s so frustrating to see yet another genre film from the East fall prey to this habit within its last half hour, that I had to note it right away.

I once heard that in the Bollywood industry, the films sprawl on and on with three to four hours being average runtimes for mainstream fare, because the audience sees quantity as the crucial form of quality. Which is to say, for them: the longer, the better. They feel they are getting their money’s worth. Here in North America the average attention span is decidedly shorter. Neither is a good thing, and I feel most artier fare seems to strike a good balance, which I’d say is about a 2 hour runtime. My point is, with recent Asian horror films (including Reincarnation, the latest review before this one) you have to wonder if the aesthetic is starting to become more like the aforementioned Bollywood one, in a way. Instead of a longer runtime, it’s more bang for your buck in the form of twist after twist, false ending after false ending, crazy revelation after...you get the idea. I don’t know, but it really needs to stop.

The Wall Man, directed by Wataru Hayakawa, deserves more attention than just a rant about its flaws, however. For something that probably had a relatively low budget, it looks quite beautiful—with intimate shots of hallways, apartments, and restaurants masterfully contrasted with the tangled mass of urban alienation that is the Tokyo skyline. Appropriately creepy atmosphere is built to perfection, and the cast is winning across the board. Notably the film’s main characters, a couple consisting of perky TV Tabloid reporter Kyoko (Masato Sakai), who hosts a show that investigates silly rumors, and her more cerebral boyfriend, abstract photographer Nishina (Mayumi Ono).

The whole “wall man” thing starts when Nishina dreams that Kyoko is investigating such an idea on her program. Then, sure enough, she receives a letter the next day asking her to do so. Civilians are interviewed about the titular man, and from their accounts he seems to be an urban legend of sorts, like Bloody Mary or The Boogeyman. The general conceit is that he lives in walls, is neither human nor ghost, and watches everything that goes on in your and anyone else’s home. He also likes to watch TV.

As Kyoko investigates, director Hayakawa does a brilliant job of balancing the humor and unbelievableness of it all, while still giving hints that maybe there’s more to the stories. Kyoko serves as the audience surrogate, who rolls her eyes at most of it—meanwhile her beau Nishina becomes enthralled by it to the point of obsession, sort of like Jake Gyllenhaal in Fincher's Zodiac.

There are moments of dialogue that reveal such potent and poignant emotion, the movie is allowed to truly reach greatness several times. It makes it all the more disappointing when the ending(s) undo much of the previous good. One scene in particular pushes the limits of how inane things can get before we give up entirely. I honestly think if an edited version of this was released—which, naturally, cut out the needless nonsense and streamlined it along—it would be one of the best Asian horror/genre films in recent memory. Alas, such an edit does not exist.

I still give it a reserved seal of approval. It’s worth seeking out, if you can. But like most urban myths, by the time you uncover everything, what you find beneath is still a letdown.