dublinka

In Pistol Opera the quirky Seijun Suzuki movie on Japanese assassins, the rules of murder are governed by aesthetics, and Yeong-he Han, plays the little girl Sayoko, who is soon to be unmasked as an assassin herself - and ultimately beheaded. On one level, her significance in the movie, is to act as an all seeing eye, through which the movie can unfold. On another, she gives expression to some of the most intriguing moments in the film, where she is simultaneously an independent character, and an echo of the origins of lead character Stray Cat, played by Makiko Esumi. In the process we see her abandoning the reading of poetry (Wordsworth's Daffodils) in favour of learning, or pretending to want to be the killer, she already is. In another scene she performs a strange and disturbing recitation of Humpty Dumpty, half childs play, half torn and stringless marionette dance. It's all odd, trashy and endearing.