Movielogr
The Visitor in the Eye (1977)
Directed by Nobuhiko Ōbayashi
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
Komori Tiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day in training her coach hits the ball into her eye accidentally. She is taken to hospital but is advised that she will never regain the sight in her eye.
Length 100 minutes
Actors
Nagisa Katahira | Jô Shishido | Etsuko Shihomi | Shingo Yamamoto | Kôji Wada | Tôru Minegishi | Isao Tamagawa | Rinichi Yamamoto | Hiroyuki Nagato | Honey Lane | Fumi Dan | Yumeji Tsukioka | Toshiya Fujita | Sonny Chiba | Nobuhiko Ōbayashi | Ai Matsubara | Masayo Miyako | Dai Nagasawa | Mitsutoshi Ishigami | Rushia Santô | Godiego
Viewing History (seen 2 times)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/24/2020 | TV | Broadcast | Other | 7 stars |
| 04/23/2020 | TV | Broadcast | Other | 5.5 stars |
| (Average) 6.25 stars |
Viewing Notes
Decided to watch this again on the rebroadcast. DKUTV ran another tribute to Nobuhiko Obayashi who passed away on April 10. The films were this one, The Little Who Conquered Time, and EMOTION. I was really enamored with this film, a live action adaptation of the Black Jack manga, an Osamu Tezuka creation. The story didn’t win me over given that it’s nothing quite as fantastical as the animated feature but all the stylistic flourishes by Obayashi are quite wonderful.
That he did this movie on the heels of his HOUSE horror comedy makes this even more interesting to me. I noted before that there is an in-joke nod to HOUSE and it is the greatest thing. I want to own this movie just for that moment and watch it over and over. Jo Shishido is okay as the eccentric surgeon but he’s literally in the movie for less than 10 minutes. It’s mostly a scooby-doo mystery with Etsuko “Sue” Shihomi’s character Kyoko and the tennis coach trying to figure out why their friend Chiaki is seeing a ghost-like image of a man after she had emergency eye surgery performed by Black Jack.
Viewing this a second time had me appreciating the story a lot more and relishing in all of Obayashi’s touches. It’s very dream-like and even tho it never reaches the height of HOUSE (how could it??) it would pair well with it as tho both stories exist in the same fantasy world.
Oh Sonny Chiba has an almost blink and you’ll miss cameo as a drunk cowboy. Just another odd yet amusing choice by Obayashi.
So I guess now I have to track this movie down and I’m sure there’s no good home video release. Ugh
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