 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Lakeside
Murder Case
|
 |
|
There is more than a touch of Agatha Christie – not to mention the kind of trashy thrillers shown on daytime television – in this zany murder mystery made for television by the once-great Aoyama Shinji (Eureka, 2000) just before his rather awful, bloated SF feature Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (2005). A pretty photographer is murdered at a secluded educational retreat for teenage children accepted into an elite school. The subsequent implications and revelations (involving adultery, ambition and corruption) grow ever more bizarre. This film has been optimistically called "multilayered", but the heavy-handed message about doting parents in Japan is on the same surface level as everything else. Still, the film offers some crazy fun. © Adrian Martin July 2005 |
