Id (Ido) (2005)
Id is an abstract Japanese film from 2005 that has finally made its way onto DVD. The film is full of visual metaphor, disturbing imagery, and abstract concepts. The title refers to notorious cokehead Sigmund Freud’s “structural theory” about how the mind operates. The id represents the subconscious part of the mind where all desire is based upon pleasure.
The film is about a psychic man who wakes up in a park hearing the thoughts of a disturbed woman. He makes his way to the pig farm where the woman lives with her degenerate inbred family. What follows is a decidedly confusing meltdown of visual and mental carnage.
The visuals in the film are stunning and the tone of the movie is depressingly dark; however, there is a quirky Three Stooges like quality to the film. The film is reminiscent of Miike’s cinema only much less refined and a little ragged in the technical aspects. Characters vomit blood, wells spout blood, cross dressers get harassed, and nothing ever really quite makes sense. The film is about as challenging as any movie that I have seen, due to its reliance on visuals, abstract concepts, and narrative horseplay. Just when you think you’ve got a grasp on the world of the movie, a dead character comes to life, other characters disappear or something completely random happens.
As far as I can tell, the movie is a reaction to sexual repression and abuse. Many of the characters are sexually flawed and degenerate, even more than Dustin Diamond or Tom Sizemore. The male characters frequently show their penises, which are represented as tools such as springs or spades. One disturbed woman reverts to a primordial state, or id form after failing to cope with the abusive relationship between her an her dad.
The movie does have it flaws, however. Much of the film is almost incoherent. It’s hard to tell who is who and the metaphorical nature of the film always had me guessing if the characters weren’t meant to be representations of other characters’ psyches. The film jumps around too much and fiddles with the narrative just enough to confuse the hell out of you. Still, if you work a little bit you can get some meaning out of it… I’m just not sure that the meaning is anything worth working for… it’s kind of like wooing a chick over the net, meeting her in real life, and finding out she looks like Rosie O’Donnell.
Despite some amazing imagery and off the wall characters and situations, the film is flawed by its own pretentiousness. The camera work is shaky, as if a cracked out Michael J. Fox was holding it. The confusion in the narrative, prevents all of the cool imagery from making up for the films shortcomings and what you are left with is an artsy piece of wasted potential. It’s still interesting if you like to play mentally with your movies.
Final Synopsis: Arthouse individuals may get a kick out of this as well as philosophy majors, but your average moviegoer will be hard pressed to overlook the films flaws. Most people should stay away.
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