Beware False Idols: KISARAGI (2007)

 Originally posted May 3, 2024.

“Maybe we’re all guilty. If we didn’t exist… if she had no fans… Miki might have been able to retire without hesitation.”

A group of men sit in a room to determine, through conversation, the truth behind a death they weren’t present for. As details come out, tempers flare. It almost sounds like 12 Angry Men (1957), with the small difference that the closed cast, rather than jurors, are members of a fan forum for a local swimsuit model. Sprinkle in some slapstick, and you have Kisaragi (2007), a Japanese film directed by Yūichi Satō.

Iemoto (“Master/Guru”) is the moderator of a fan forum for small-time gravure idol Miki Kisaragi. On the one-year anniversary of Miki’s untimely death, Iemoto invites four of the forum regulars to a fan party, with each introducing himself under his online handle. Although the film starts off with light-hearted comedy (including some frustrating gay jokes—I don’t miss the 2000s), the proceedings frog-boil into tension as taciturn forum user OdaYuji insists that this is a funeral, and demands the guests wear appropriate suits. Apparently Miki died by suicide, and under very suspicious circumstances—arson of her own apartment. OdaYuji is convinced that she was murdered by a stalker, and that the stalker may even be one of the forum users in the room. Was it suicide, accident, or murder? Throughout the evening, the five discuss a number of theories in light of a series of revelations about their identities, some of them serious enough to warrant pulling a knife. (In a running gag, one member gets food poisoning, and has to run to the washroom just in time to miss each shocking discovery, before finally revealing one of his own.)

At first blush, Kisaragi seems like the reverse perspective of a film like Perfect Blue (1997): instead of diving into the psychology of a female celebrity, diving into the psychology of her parasocial fans as they attempt to dissect the events leading up to her death. Certainly the film discusses the ways in which each man projects his own feelings and aspirations onto Miki, and many of their deductions depend on assumptions about her behaviour. But some of the forum members have surprising connections to Miki. At one point, Iemoto laments, “I call myself the ‘master’, but no one in this room is further away from Miki than me!”

Ultimately, of course, the group’s discussion is all unverifiable speculation, but the film does end up presenting a plausible theory that ties together all the facts presented. (Right up until the stinger, which suggests there might’ve been another explanation all along.) All of the reveals are fairly foreshadowed, enough to make you cluck your tongue when their significance becomes apparent.

If you’re looking for an incisive critique of celebrity culture, you may be disappointed, because Kisaragi doesn’t really have much to say on the matter. As mentioned, some of the group members can’t really be called “parasocial” or even “fans”. And the film ends on a note of almost eyebrow-raising optimism. Still, it was an wild ride, and an entertaining use of just under two hours—worth watching if you can track it down.