The film opens with the lead character Muraki narrating. He just finished serving prison time for killing a man, but he wonders, "What's so wrong with killing one of these stupid animals?" He's an old time yakuza hit man with seemingly no meaning to life. The only thrill he gets is from gambling, but even then he doesn't reveal any emotion. At the gambling house he meets a young woman named Saeko who is also there to feel alive. She is bored with life and is looking to feel something, anything. The difference between him and her is that while she is searching for something, he already knows there is nothing out there. Life, he says in more or less words, is stupid.
Pale Flower is dark and moody. It explores these two nihilistic characters' quest for fulfillment and takes the viewer to the darkest corners of their lives. This is perhaps both a strength and weakness to the film. It allows us to view the emptiness of their lives, but it also means a sort of emptiness to the film as well. Despair and soul sapping moroseness this film has, deep characterization or plot it does not. It is all about the feel, the style, the ambiance and little to do with much else.
I sort of need to watch this film again to talk about it fairly because I feel I missed a lot of the stuff between the lines. If you watch Pale Flower at face value, you will not get much out of it. The characters are not particularly well developed and the plot doesn't really offer anything exciting. Much of the feel is in the visual style and tone and if you're not receptive to it you'll miss a lot of the feeling of the film.
Visually the movie is well shot and is obviously heavily influenced by film noir. I seem to have watched a ton of these types of movies lately because I've been noticing it a lot. There are two scenes that really popped out to me. One is the dream sequence that feels so surreal. The other is the ending in the restaurant.
Overall I have a sort of mixed reaction to the film and most of it is my fault for being so distracted when I watched it. Nearly every review I have read of Pale Flower mentions a bunch of stuff that I just flat out didn't get or bothered to think about. But I will say that having watched the film and having a brief understanding of it, I feel like it sort of misses the boat. The main problem is that we never get to really know Muraki and Saeko so it becomes difficult to have any connection with them. Perhaps that is the point though, their existence is so futile that what is there to even know?
Grade: B-
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