Whether it’s anime or live-action kaiju flicks, there’s an underlying tendency in Japanese cinema to push things to the extreme, but that applies far beyond the action genre, extending as far back as the 1920s whenTeinosuke Kinugasareleased one of the most mind-bogglingly cerebralpsychological thrillersof all time.A Page of Madnesswas released in 1926 in collaboration with the avant-garde film collectivewho called themselves the Shinkankakuha, translated as the School of New Perceptions. Together, they made it their mission to obliterate the very foundations of film grammar and storytelling, even when the medium was still in its relative infancy, resulting in what remains today as one of themost experimental works of horror ever produced.
A Page of Madnessis basicallyShutter IslandifShutter Islandwas hellbent on being as confusing as possible without giving the audience even a smidgeon of exposition to explain itself.Set it an asylum, which films likeBenjamin Christensen’s 1922Häxanwill show you were far from the best or fairest of places to be at the time,A Page of MadnessstarsMasao Inoueas a nameless janitor who has taken up employment with the secret intention of freeing his recently imprisoned wife (Yoshie Nakagawa). In his attempts to do so, in a manner not unlikeSam Fuller’sShock Corridor, he slowly loses his mind. Over 71 terrifying minutes, the barrier between reality and fantasy is entirely abolished. Though its attitude towards mental illness, like many films depicting the subject of the era, is entirely dated, perceiving ‘madness’ as a contagious infection deserving of imprisonment, its filmmaking prowess morphs it into an exceptionally bold and stunning work of nigh-forgotten art.
A Page of Madness
A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
‘A Page of Madness’ Is So Convoluted, It Required a Live Oration
Here’s the thing… evensilent film aficionadoswill struggle to get on the same wavelength asA Page of Madness, as contrary to many films of the era outsidethe masterpieces ofF.W. Murnau, there is not a single intertitle to be found. The viewer is left entirely in the dark with regard to what anyone is saying, or the relationships that people have with one another, forced to deduce these crucial elements of the plot through visuals alone. This is why, upon release,screenings were often narrated by a livebenshi(speaker), narrating the events as they take place on-screen. However, the complete lack of exposition serves a greater purpose as it relates to the narrative.
If you don’t understand a damn thing that’s happening inA Page of Madness, it’s because Kinugasa and his buddies plainly and simply don’t want you to. Instead, they focus onlocking you into the mind of its protagonist, with your confusion about what exactly is taking place mirroring his own. Like last year’s ownSkinamarink, however, the film weaponizes the audience’s confusion, making every instance of pure analog horror all the more menacing for our lack of understanding of it. Once you’re strapped in, the film throws upon you every trick utilized bythe German expressionists of the era, whether it’s double, or even triple exposure, unrecognizably distorted lenses, or rapid-fire montages, all designed to make the audience believe that they themselves are going insane. A reminder:this film was made almost 100 years ago.
What Is ‘A Page of Madness’ About?
The actual events ofA Page of Madnessare anyone’s guess, as nearly every scene invites as many interpretations as there are viewers of the film. It’s not just theambiguous endingthat creeps up on you, as by the time you even arrive at that point, it’s almost guaranteed that you won’t have the slightest clue of what’s actually taking place, no matter how manyDavid Lynchfilmsyou’ve convinced yourself you finally understand. Upon a15th rewatch,however, you might be able to get to the point where you’re able to figure out the plot under the surface.
The protagonist janitor in question was actually a former sailor, whose wife was driven to madness in part thanks to his long voyages at sea. As a result, there’s a strong sense of guilt that the janitor feels for his wife’s imprisonment, as his lack of support for her and their daughter (Ayako Iijima) is largely what led her there. After his daughter visits both him and her mother in the asylum, the film dissolves into severaldream sequences. Does the movie tell you that these are dream sequences? Absolutely not! That’d be way too easy. Instead, it forces you to piece together that fact yourself, with one of the final dream sequences showing the marriage of the janitor’s daughter to a bearded inmate of the asylum (Kyosuke Takamatsu).
The dreams eventually subside (but only after a terrifying mass dance of inmates inNoh masks), only for the janitor to see the same bearded inmate bowing respectfully towards him as they pass each other in the hall as if that dream relationship through his daughter still remains.The Cabinet of Dr. Caligarimay have offered the world the very first twist endingthat cinema ever knew, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be the last.
‘A Page of Madness’ Was Nearly Lost for Years
The truth about the masterpieces of experimentation of the 1920s is that, unfortunately,99% of those films are lost, presumably forever. It was the same forA Page of Madness, which itself was consideredlostfor a total of 45 years!It was foundby Kinugasa himself in 1971 in his old storage cabin, although tragically, it is still reportedly missing a third of its total runtime. That explains its briskness, and perhaps that missing third would explain everything that viewers struggle to piece together and make sense of. Given its elusiveness, however, that’s probably just wishful thinking.
Even if the missing third ofA Page of Madnesswas found and restored, it’s hard to argue that it would service the film and its reception in a particularly meaningful way. While we probably would have gotten an even stronger display of visual innovation from one of the most twisted minds ofpioneering J-horror, the film would likely have left its viewers just as confused, as that confusion remains one of its greatest strengths. It’s the equivalent of finally explaining what happened at the end ofInception. Would it satisfy the ultimate truth-seekers? Sure. But the deeper meaning of the film, like that missing third, would be entirely lost as a result.
A Page of Madnessis available to rent on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
