Ikeda Toshiharu's "Ningyo Densetsu" (Mermaid Legend) is an over-the-top female revenge film whose gratuitous violence may please "70s Pinky Violence" fans but which is ultimately a convoluted and contrived mess. The "deus ex machina" climax is totally ridiculous and is really a stretch even by movie standards.
Ikeda is probably most familiar to movie fans as the director behind two Japanese cult films, the very bleak and gory horror masterpiece "Shiryô No Wana AKA Evil Dead Trap" and the visually stylish but hopelessly sadistic, "Tenshi no Harawata: Akai Inga AKA Angel Guts: Red Porno". "Ningyo Densetsu" was produced between these two extremes but has elements of both in it. It is a film that has outrageous elements of violence and mayhem and yet is eerily erotic and visually mesmerizing.
The film revolves around young couple Keisuke and Migiwa Saeki who fish for abalone in a small coastal hamlet in Southern Japan. Shirato Mari portrays Migiwa, the shellfish diver or "Ama" who is married to the straight laced and stubborn Keisuke (Eto Jun) who runs a small family fishing boat. They are the last holdouts to a piece of coastal property that is being marked for a major development and amusement/aquarium park project by greedy industrialist Miyamoto Terumasa (Aoki Yoshio). Miyamoto's henchmen try to force Keisuke to sign over the land but when he refuses, Miyamoto's henchmen take more deadlier tactics which result in Keisuke's brutal death. Grief stricken, Migiwa confides in her childhood friend and professional photographer Shouhei (Shimizu Kentarô) but the playboy (who also happens to be the son of Miyamoto) takes advantage of Migiwa's vulnerable state to seduce her. Migiwa's psychology shattered, she soon sets out to extract revenge against Miyamoto and his henchmen. The path of revenge leads to an all-out, bloody assault on the opening day celebrations of Miyamoto's amusement/aquarium park where Migiwa kills dozens of attendees including Shouhei.
While comparisons have been made to the notorious woman's revenge film "I Spit On Your Grave", I think it's more along the lines of some of the "Zatoichi" films, where an otherwise peaceful individual is pushed to the limits of tolerance and goes on a sword-wielding attack on evil. While Migiwa is certainly not blind or disabled in anyway, her idyllic life is shattered beyond repair and that causes her to become a deadly harbinger of death against all those who wronged her.
The climax in particular is hard to swallow with Migiwa blindly murdering dozens of people in attendance at Miyamoto's gala event with no seeming remorse or concern whether or not they had anything to do with Keisuke's death. Also the aforementioned "deus ex machina" moment when a raging storm appears out of nowhere to save Migiwa from the hordes of police surrounding her is absolutely absurd (although it is hinted that it was brought on by a Buddhist totem/Kami that Migiwa had prayed to often).
Shirato Mari (a peculiar stage name) is very easy on the eyes and seems to have no shyness about full frontal nudity and stripping down and showing her ample assets. Her underwater scenes are very erotic and cinematographer Maeda Yonezo takes full advantage of photographing Mari in all her glory. Mari does a good job at making Migiwa a sympathetic character. Aoki Yoshio's Miyamoto Terumasa is certainly a scoundrel and Aoki relishes in the villainous portrayal. Shimizu Kentarô is also pretty good in his role as Shouhei and it was hard to figure him out, whether he was a villain or hero.
"Ningyo Densetsu" isn't a great film even in a grind-house exploitation film sense and has a lot of hard-to-take storyline contrivances but is an interesting curio revenge film may strike some as surprisingly bloody.
Ikeda is probably most familiar to movie fans as the director behind two Japanese cult films, the very bleak and gory horror masterpiece "Shiryô No Wana AKA Evil Dead Trap" and the visually stylish but hopelessly sadistic, "Tenshi no Harawata: Akai Inga AKA Angel Guts: Red Porno". "Ningyo Densetsu" was produced between these two extremes but has elements of both in it. It is a film that has outrageous elements of violence and mayhem and yet is eerily erotic and visually mesmerizing.
The film revolves around young couple Keisuke and Migiwa Saeki who fish for abalone in a small coastal hamlet in Southern Japan. Shirato Mari portrays Migiwa, the shellfish diver or "Ama" who is married to the straight laced and stubborn Keisuke (Eto Jun) who runs a small family fishing boat. They are the last holdouts to a piece of coastal property that is being marked for a major development and amusement/aquarium park project by greedy industrialist Miyamoto Terumasa (Aoki Yoshio). Miyamoto's henchmen try to force Keisuke to sign over the land but when he refuses, Miyamoto's henchmen take more deadlier tactics which result in Keisuke's brutal death. Grief stricken, Migiwa confides in her childhood friend and professional photographer Shouhei (Shimizu Kentarô) but the playboy (who also happens to be the son of Miyamoto) takes advantage of Migiwa's vulnerable state to seduce her. Migiwa's psychology shattered, she soon sets out to extract revenge against Miyamoto and his henchmen. The path of revenge leads to an all-out, bloody assault on the opening day celebrations of Miyamoto's amusement/aquarium park where Migiwa kills dozens of attendees including Shouhei.
While comparisons have been made to the notorious woman's revenge film "I Spit On Your Grave", I think it's more along the lines of some of the "Zatoichi" films, where an otherwise peaceful individual is pushed to the limits of tolerance and goes on a sword-wielding attack on evil. While Migiwa is certainly not blind or disabled in anyway, her idyllic life is shattered beyond repair and that causes her to become a deadly harbinger of death against all those who wronged her.
The climax in particular is hard to swallow with Migiwa blindly murdering dozens of people in attendance at Miyamoto's gala event with no seeming remorse or concern whether or not they had anything to do with Keisuke's death. Also the aforementioned "deus ex machina" moment when a raging storm appears out of nowhere to save Migiwa from the hordes of police surrounding her is absolutely absurd (although it is hinted that it was brought on by a Buddhist totem/Kami that Migiwa had prayed to often).
Shirato Mari (a peculiar stage name) is very easy on the eyes and seems to have no shyness about full frontal nudity and stripping down and showing her ample assets. Her underwater scenes are very erotic and cinematographer Maeda Yonezo takes full advantage of photographing Mari in all her glory. Mari does a good job at making Migiwa a sympathetic character. Aoki Yoshio's Miyamoto Terumasa is certainly a scoundrel and Aoki relishes in the villainous portrayal. Shimizu Kentarô is also pretty good in his role as Shouhei and it was hard to figure him out, whether he was a villain or hero.
"Ningyo Densetsu" isn't a great film even in a grind-house exploitation film sense and has a lot of hard-to-take storyline contrivances but is an interesting curio revenge film may strike some as surprisingly bloody.