Freezer

Director Takashi Ishii was responsible for one of the most significant Japanese films of the 1990’s Gronin (1995) a stylish and moody action thriller in which five washed-up everymen takes on the yakuza in a daring raid to steal their cash. His sequel Gronin 2 (1996) used the same plot structure except it relied on having five women as the protagonists instead of five men. I have in my collection two other films by Ishii, Black Angel (1997) and Black Angel 2 (1999) both well worth a look if you enjoy this type of genre.

Ishii’s films normally portray human beings under duress and his preferred method of inflicting pain and stress on his (mostly female) characters is through rape and Freezer (or Freeze Me) 2000 is no exception. This rape revenge drama tells the story of Chihiro, Harumi Inove, who is left by her boyfriend after he rapes her with the help of two companions. Five years later, after she has started to build a new life for herself, she is revisited in her Tokyo apartment by the same three men whose intention is to violate her again.

The film explores the experience of rape, the long term effects on the victim and how the body and mind deals with such a situation. You can’t seem to ignore this very disturbing tale of a woman in extreme peril that has to overcome her own nightmare.